The vagueness surrounding the terms "suffering" and "pain" invites us to reflect upon the relationships between a physiological fact and a constitutive dimension of the human experience. History shows a constant medical preoccupation facing pain as a clinical symptom, endowed with a rich terminology, many ways of relieving pain and speculations on its diagnostic value. In the contemporary era, pain is revealed as a proper scientific object. This development accompanies an evolution of medical practices on pain that, far from representing continuous progress, adopts rather uneven and sometimes surprising outlines. As a whole, medicine is characterised by an important ambivalence when confronting pain, valuating it as an useful auxiliary or on the contrary denying the painful experience.