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Pain is not just a sensation, but rather an 'experience' that includes both sensory-discriminative and motivational-affective components. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as:
‘an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.’
Molony and Kent (1997) proposed a further definition of pain more specific to animals:
‘Pain is an aversive sensory and emotional experience representing awareness by the animal of damage or threat to the integrity of its tissues … producing a change in physiology and behaviour directed to reduce or avoid the damage, reduce the likelihood or recurrence and promote recovery.’
This chapter considers Physiology of nociception; Systemic responses to pain; Recognition of pain; Multimodal and pre-emptive analgesia; Analgesic plans and drug groups; and Summary and planning of rational multimodal analgesia.
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