The thalamus then transmits the pain signal to other areas of the brain to be processed. Once the brain has received and interpreted the pain message, it coordinates an appropriate response.
The brain can send a signal back to the spinal cord and nerves to increase or decrease the severity of pain. For example, the brain can signal the release of natural painkillers known as endorphins. Alternately, the brain can direct the release of neurotransmitters that enhance pain or hormones that stimulate the immune system to respond to an injury. This occurs in a fraction of a second — before the signal has been relayed on to the brain — so you will have pulled your arm away before even becoming conscious of the pain.
Sharp, pricking pain is carried by A-delta fibres while dull throbbing pain travels via C fibres. A-delta fibres conduct signals faster than C fibres as they are larger and are coated in myelin, which acts an electrical insulator. There are several points in the pain pathway where the signal can be modified. One is the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. This is the basis of the gate control theory of pain described below.
When we feel pain, such as when we touch a hot stove, sensory receptors in our skin send a message via nerve fibres A-delta fibres and C fibres to the spinal cord and brainstem and then onto the brain where the sensation of pain is registered, the information is processed and the pain is perceived. The gate theory says that as these pain messages come into the spinal cord and the central nervous system before they even get to the brain , they can be amplified, turned down or even blocked out.
This has to do with the brain being busy doing other things and shutting the gate until it can pay attention to the messages. Large diameter nerve fibres A-beta fibres responsible for transmitting signals of touch to the brain have the ability to close the pain gate and so block signals from other smaller diameter nerve fibres which transmit pain.
An example of this would be when a child falls over and hurts her knee — if she rubs her knee, the signal from that sensation of touch temporarily blocks the pain signal travelling from the injured knee to the brain. What affects your experience of pain? Severe pain quickly gets your attention and usually produces a stronger physical response than mild pain. The location of your pain can also affect how you perceive it. For example, pain coming from the head is harder to ignore than pain originating elsewhere in the body.
The location of pain in your body does not always indicate where it is coming from. For example, the pain from a heart attack can be felt in the neck, jaws, arms or abdomen. This is known as referred pain and occurs because signals from different parts of the body often converge on the same neurones in the spinal cord. The gate control theory helps explain how the brain influences your experience of pain. It seems that several factors can affect how you interpret pain:.
This is the type of pain illustrated in the first diagram. Nociceptive pain is caused by any injury to body tissues, for example, a cut, burn or fracture broken bone. Postoperative pain and cancer pain are other forms of nociceptive pain. This type of pain can be aching, sharp or throbbing. Nociceptive pain can be constant or intermittent and may be worsened by movement or by coughing, depending on the area it originates from.
This is caused by abnormalities in the system that carries and interprets pain — the problem may be in the nerves, spinal cord or brain. Neuropathic pain is felt as a burning, tingling, shooting or electric sensation. One form of neuropathic pain is associated with shingles — a skin condition caused by varicella zoster virus.
The virus triggers inflammation of the nerves and this inflammation can set off a constant deep aching, tingling or burning sensation that in some people can persist for months after the shingles rash has resolved. The spinal cord carries the pain message from its receptors all the way up to the brain, where it is received by the thalamus and sent to the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that processes the message.
In other words, the physical message from the injury travels from where you're hurt directly to your brain, where it registers the sensation known as pain. Your brain perceives that pain, and sends the pain message back to the area of your body that hurts — and it all goes very quickly.
You don't stub your toe and notice that it hurts five minutes later; you know right away. There are different types of pain — more than just mild and severe — that can affect the way that you feel and perceive pain. Acute pain is short-term pain, usually what you experience after some sort of accident or injury — you break your arm or drop a can of soup on your foot.
Once that injury has healed, your pain disappears and doesn't require further treatment. Chronic pain is persistent pain, generally caused by a condition like fibromyalgia or arthritis. People with chronic pain need long-term treatment and therapy to manage their pain.
For instance, the joint is in a disrepair state with arthritis, causing pain signals with little down time to pass to the brain. There is no physical pain cause, but the reaction to pain is the same.
In these cases, the cause of chronic pain is difficult to determine and difficult to treat. Ask here at our pain clinic for quick pain healing. The pain response is individual, and what can be painful to one person can only be mildly unpleasant to another. Your perception of pain is influenced not only by physical injury or sensation, but also by emotional, psychological and social influences, as pain signals move through the emotional and thought regions of your brain.
You can all relate to how you feel pain through your memories of previous traumatic events, long-term health issues, genetics, coping mechanisms, and approach to pain. Ask your pain management doctors in OKC at a pain clinic.
Only methodical treatment can help in relieving this trouble. Nothing expressed herein creates a doctor-patient relationship.
Back Our Physicians J. Bridger Cox, M. Eric S.
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