Introduction to Neuropathic Pain Assessment and Examination

Introduction to Neuropathic Pain Assessment is a 40-minute instructional video that introduces the concept of pain resulting from nerve disease and dysfunction and demonstrates symptoms and signs that define these syndromes.

The video consists of three parts:Part I: What is Neuropathic Pain? introduces the concept of neuropathic pain, definitions, and concepts of various sensory symptoms and phenomena.

Explanations are given for terms that will be used in this teaching program, such as allodynia, hyperalgesia, hyperpathia, paresthesias, numbness, and summation.

Part II: Examination of Patients with Neuropathic Pain demonstrates history taking and physical examination of three patients with painful neuropathic disorders, with an emphasis on demonstrating common symptoms and signs of neuropathic pain syndrome and summarizing findings. Part III: Pain Assessment, Physical Examination, and Diagnostic Decision Making discusses elements of pain and symptom assessment and relates these processes to the basic and standard procedure used in the history of present illness in general and the diagnostic decision-making process.