Considering Precision and Utility When we Talk About Pain. Comment on Cohen et al

We applaud many of the sentiments put forward by Cohen et al in their critique of language and logic in pain medicine.8 Pleas to avoid conflation between nociception and pain are not new - “The mislabelling of nociceptors as pain fibres was not an elegant simplification but a most unfortunate trivialisation of pain”29; “.. we don't actually have ‘pain receptors’, or ‘pain nerves’ or ‘pain pathways’ or ‘pain centres.’”4 We are among those who see such conflation as contrasting with contemporary understandings of ‘how pain works’ and undermining evidence-based treatment approaches.