The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) has revised the definition of pain for the first time since 1979; the update is the result of a years-long process the association hopes will lead to new ways of assessing pain.
The revised definition is "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage" and was published July 16 in the journal PAIN.
"IASP and the task force [that wrote it] ...did so to better convey the nuances and the complexity of pain and hoped that it would lead to improved assessment and management of those with pain," said Srinivasa N. Raja, MD, chair of the IASP Task Force.
