I am really interested in applying the sociological perspective to pain. Many within the medico scientific way of thinking would assume that pain is a symptom of underlying disease or injury and as such spend time investigating the body to locate the cause of the pain and giving a subsequent diagnosis based on the findings. Let’s take the example of low back pain. Using the RCGP guidelines on diagnostic triage, about 90% of people with back pain have non-specific back pain where an exact cause of the pain cannot be determined. Despite this, people continue to be diagnosed with variants of back pain e.g. back sprain, disc herniation, sciatica etc. Despite advances in science and technology meaning we understand more and more about the physiological processes implicated in nociception, there is an alarming increase in back pain related disability across the world. This suggests that there are more contributing variables beyond pathophysiology. Particularly around the context within which pain is experienced and the lived experiences of those in pain. I would be interested in people’s view on what sociological perspectives contribute to our understanding of pain. See this editorial on sociology and pain for some background. (http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/shil_enhanced/virtual6_full.asp)
Jackie