A commonly used non lethal weapon, variations on the pain stick have been in use with many cultures over an extended period. They are not generally considered to be effective combat weapons but are rather used for tasks such as the control of prisoners.1Pain sticks are simple weapons whose name indicates their function. They are rod-shaped, usually about 50 centimetres long, with a grip on one end for comfort. When the other end it touched to the victim is causes an energy discharge that results in severe debilitating pain. Their range is thus limited to as far as the user can reach.1
The Tandarans used pain sticks to control inmates in their internment camp facilities.2 Guards on Angel One also carried them when escorting prisoners.3 The Klingons used pain sticks for various ceremonial purposes; the death of the Klingon Chancellor was often tested by having the claimants to the position use pain sticks on the body.4 Klingon 'painstiks' were quite commonly used. The anniversary of a Klingon's Age of Ascension was celebrated by having him walk between two rows of fellow Klingons, who would use pain sticks on him - a ceremony intended to demonstrate how much pain he was capable of withstanding. Klingon pain sticks were so powerful that Chief O'Brien claimed that on one occasion a two ton Rectyne Monopod jumped five metres on being touched by one. It finally died of 'excessive cephalic pressure' - or, as O'Brien put it, 'It's head exploded'. It is possible he may have exaggerated the incident for effect.5 The Klingon fondness for pain sticks was so renowned that Counselor Troi suggested that Worf would probably want to use on one himself at some point during his birthday.6
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