%0 Journal Article
%T Avicenna¡¯s concept of pain
%A OA Tashani
%A MI Johnson
%J Libyan Journal of Medicine
%D 2010
%I 
%X Ibn Sina (Latin name - Avicenna, 980-1037) is a famous Muslim physician who wrote The Canon of Medicine. Pain-related writings within The Canon were identified and analysed and compared to Galen and Modern Pain Theory. We found evidence in The Canon that Avicenna challenged Galen¡¯s concept of pain. Galen insisted that injuries (breach of continuity) were the only cause of pain. In contrast, Avicenna suggested that the true cause of pain was a change of the physical condition (temperament change) of the organ whether there was an injury present or not. Avicenna extended Galen¡¯s descriptions of 4 to 15 types of pain and used a terminology that is remarkably similar to that used in the McGill Pain Questionnaire.
%U http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ljm/article/view/70639