Pain

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This article is about physical pain. For pain in the broader sense, see Suffering. For other uses, see Pain (disambiguation).

Physical Pain is the unpleasant feeling common to a headache and a stubbed toe. It typically consists of negative affect and aversion, and has location, duration, intensity and a distinctive quality (e.g., burning, stabbing). Pain is often accompanied by other bodily feelings, negative emotions and cognitive impairment.

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".^[1] A definition by Margo McCaffery, widely used in nursing since 1968, reflects pain's subjective nature: "Pain is whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing whenever he says it does".^[2]