What is PSLS?
the central nervous system. The result is pain in areas not directly affected by the surgical procedure. Post-operative pain may be experienced by an inpatient or outpatient. It can be felt after any surgical procedure, whether it is minor dental surgery or a triple-bypass heart operation.
Post-operative pain increases the possibility of post-surgical complications, raises the cost of medical care, and most importantly, interferes with recovery and return to normal activities of daily living. Management of post-surgical pain is a basic patient right. When pain is controlled or removed, a patient is better able to participate in activities such as walking or eating, which will encourage his or her recovery. Patients will also sleep better, which aids the healing process.

Pain is recognized in two different forms: physiologic pain and clinical pain. Physiologic pain comes and goes, and is the result of experiencing a high-intensity sensation. It often acts as a safety mechanism to warn individuals of danger (e.g., a burn, animal scratch, or broken glass). Clinical pain, in contrast, is marked by hypersensitivity to painful stimuli around a localized site, and also is felt in non-injured areas nearby. When a patient undergoes surgery, tissues and nerve endings are traumatized, resulting in incision pain. This trauma overloads the pain receptors that send messages to the spinal cord, which becomes overstimulated. The resultant central sensitization is a type of posttraumatic stress to the spinal cord, which interprets any stimulation—painful or otherwise—as unpleasant. That is why a patient may feel pain in movement or physical touch in locations far from the surgical site.
Patients handle post-operative pain in high individualized ways. Health care professionals have observed that some patients report that they are in extreme pain after surgery, demanding large doses of pain medications while others seem to do well with much less medication. Several theories have been put forth for this discrepancy. For example, differences in body size seemed to require differing amounts of medication, but this theory did not explain differences in pain perception among patients of the same build. Emotional well-being was considered a better indicator of the ability to tolerate pain. It has been theorized that patients with stronger support systems and better attitudes actually perceive less pain than others. Some health care professionals have even speculated that extreme pain was not real in many cases, but was a way to seek attention.

Adopted from about.com