And Pain Is All Around Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gastralgia

Any irritation of the pneumogastric nerve will result in pain in the stomach, or gastralgia. Commonly, it results from excessive eating or drinking, but stomach cramps can also be the consequence of emotional stress, digestive disorders (as in intolerance to certain substances), and other illnesses.

While it is normally of short duration and not too serious, particularly when related to indigestion, in some cases it requires medical assistance to prevent severe consequences, such as ulcers, hernias and rupturing of blood vessels or other organic tissue.

The incorrect options are also related to the stomach. Gastrology, usually linked with enterology, is the study of the stomach, gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture (well, that's indirectly related to the stomach, actually), and gastrolith is a calculus (stone) produced inside the stomach. While this last option may be a cause of abdominal pain, it's not the term for the pain itself.

Answer: Headache

There are a lot of types of headache, with an equally big number of possible causes.

In a general sense, headaches are classified into primary. These are not caused by underlying conditions, and are usually benign; about 90% of the headaches are of the primary type and secondary, having their origin in a disease, some of them being very serious. Each of these has many ramifications depending on the characteristics of the pain and the underlying cause.

Answer: Lower back

Pain in the lower back can have several causes, but it appears more frequently after lifting heavy loads by bending over at the waist. The repetitive strain of the muscles leads to a throbbing pain that leaves you bedridden most of the time, as it makes it very difficult for you to stand up.

To prevent this, you should lift any load by squatting, keeping your back as straight as possible, then lift yourself using only your legs while holding the load as close to your torso as possible.

Answer: Odontalgia

To be fair, I've never heard anyone using this term (not even my dentist!), but it is the formal medical name for this condition.

There's not too much to be said, it's a pretty common ailment and it's likely that we've all been through it at some point in our life. The most usual cause is the tooth decay due to improper hygiene and the development of microorganisms.

Answer: Otalgia

I don't know about you, but otalgia is absolutely dreadful to me, particularly when it affects the inner ear.

It's mainly caused by otitis, the inflammation of the ear due to infection, but it can also have its origin in excessive pressure exerted over the ear (like for example with headphones or earphones), or from other ailments. Otalgia can affect any of the outer, middle or inner ear.

Aside from the pain itself, otalgia can also cause loss of the sense of equilibrium, and hearing loss, the latter of which can be severe if left untreated.

Answer: No

The most common cause of myalgia is physical exercise or the repeated use of a single muscle. For example, after heavy exercise, if you don't stretch enough, you are likely to end up with sore muscles after your body cools down.

There is a vast number of medical related problems that can cause pain in the muscles, ranging from neuromuscular disorders, bacterial infections, and reactions to certain medication.

Answer: Nostalgia

The suffix -algia comes from the Greek "algos", meaning "pain". Thus, it is widely used in words that denote pain in different parts of the body.

"Nostalgia" refers to an emotional or sentimental longing for one or more situations, events, or objects from the past. It derives from "nostos", also from Greek, meaning "to return home". It can be roughly associated to "pain of separation", but the pain in this case is merely figurative - there is no physical aching coming from nostalgia.

The rest of the options refer to pain in the face (prosopalgia, from "prosopon", "front of the face", in a rough translation), pain in the spine (rachialgia, from "rhakhis", meaning "spine"), and pain in the skin (dermalgia, from "derma", meaning "skin"; Note that this denotes any pain in the skin that doesn't originate from a visible wound).

Answer: Nerves

Neuralgia comes from "neuron" ("nerve") and "algos", which is pain. Of course, the word has Greek roots. So, neuralgia is actually the pain in the path of one or more nerves.

The reason it is mostly associated with headaches is because of trigeminal neuralgia, which is one of the most common and most painful. It affects the trigeminal nerve, which is responsible for many of the motor functions in the face and head, thus triggering pain all across it when affected.

Answer: Phantom Pain

Phantom pain is part of a larger condition known as "phantom limb syndrome". As the name implies, it takes place when a person, after losing a limb due to amputation or other causes, still experiences sensations in the missing limb, as if it was still part of the body. One of these sensations, of course, is pain.

Phantom pain should be distinguished from residual limb pain, in which the former refers to the sensation of pain in an extremity that is no longer there, while the latter refers to the feeling of pain in the remaining part of the limb where the amputation took place.

Referred pain is the pain that is perceived in a different location than the one where the painful stimuli actually occur. Somatic pain happens when the pain receptors in tissues are activated, as in the skin, muscles, bones; as opposed to visceral pain, which happens in the receptors of the internal organs. Neuropathic pain is another name for neuralgia.

Answer: Duration of the pain

Basically, acute pain is caused by a specific injury or stimulus, and goes away when that cause is treated, usually not being long-lasting (around three months at most), while chronic pain lasts for several months or years, even after the injury or disease has been treated.

While it is very common to hear that acute pain is sharper and more intense, and chronic tends to be milder, it's not always the case. Illnesses like arthritis or neuropathies can cause very intense pain for very long periods of time.