How does your brain know when you feel pain?
How does it know the difference between the soft touch of a feather and a needle prick?
And, how does that information get to your body in time to respond?
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How does acute pain becomechronic pain?
The brain sends information back to the motor nerves, which help us perform actions.
Its like having a very complicated inbox and outbox for everything.
The Role of Nerves in Identifying Pain Sensations
Lets say you step on a rock.
Different sensory nerve fibers respond to different things and produce different chemical responses which determine how sensations are interpreted.
Some nerves send signals associated with light touch, while others respond to deep pressure.
This happens within fractions of a second.
It is a lot like a freeway for sensory and motor impulses.
These decisions are calledreflexes.
If your brain is the bodys CEO, then the spinal cord is middle management.
This is because pain involves more than a simple stimulus and response.
Simply taking your foot off the rock does not solve all of your problems.
No matter how mild the damage, the tissues in your foot still need to be healed.
In addition, your brain needs to make sense of what has happened.
Pain gets cataloged in your brains library, and emotions become associated with stepping on that rock.
Did it hurt more than stepping on a tack?
Have you ever stepped on a rock before, and if so was it better or worse?
Signals are also sent from the thalamus to thelimbic system, which is the emotional center of the brain.
Ever wonder why some pain makes you cry?
The limbic system decides.
Feelings are associated with every sensation you encounter, and each feeling generates a response.
Your heart rate may increase, and you may break out into a sweat.
All because of a rock underfoot.
It isnt even a two-way system.
Pain is more than just cause and effect.
It is affected by everything else that is going on in the nervous system.
How is that for confusing?
you’re able to see how different emotions and histories can determine your response to pain.
In fact, there is a strong link betweendepression and chronic pain.
This is because the nociceptors no longer detect any tissue damage or potential injury.
This is called acute pain.
Acute pain does not persist after the initial injury has healed.
Sometimes, however, pain receptors continue to fire.
This can be brought on by a disease or condition that continuously causes damage.
This makes chronic pain difficult to pin down and even more difficult to treat.
Garland EL.Pain processing in the human nervous system: a selective review of nociceptive and biobehavioral pathways.Prim Care.
