Scientists Discover Part of the Brain Most Sensitive To Pain

The Feeling of Pain

Pain”everybody has experienced it. Pain refers to a hurting sensation which produces discomfort and agony to the sufferer. It can be short-lived or long-lived, mild or severe, or constant or intermittent. There are also many different types of pain: throbbing, aching, pulsating, stinging, or sharp. Whatever its characteristic, pain is generated when nerve endings in an area of the body such as limbs, trunk, head, skin or abdomen react to hurt and injury. Signals are then transmitted to the spinal cord and the brain. The brain then sends a signal to the nerve supplying the affected area in the form of pain. Upon feeling pain, a person withdraws his or her part of the body from the stimulus creating injury or hurt.

Pain occurs when there is a threat to tissue damage. This sensation is created by nerve fibers that signal to the brain and can be modified or even blocked by medications or even physical factors such as heat and massage.

Pain is a wonderful sensation created by the body to tell you that something is wrong in the body. For example, headache sets in whenever there is fever resulting from an infection. Pain is felt in a bruised area or a fracture to tell you to stop moving that part of the body and to facilitate rest and healing. Once the injury is repaired, pain goes away. A type of pain, known as chronic pain, goes on for weeks, months or even years. Chronic pain is usually due to an ongoing disease process in the body such as cancers, inflammation or arthritis. You can also classify pain as nociceptive or non nociceptive. Nociceptive pain comes from the body itself such as from the organs and tissues of the body; it may be classified as visceral or somatic pain. Somatic pain comes from the skin, joints, muscles and bones of the body. Visceral pain is pain felt in the viscera or the internal organs of the body, as well as the cavities surrounding them.

Non-nociceptive pain can either be neuropathic or sympathetic. Neuropathic pain is pain that comes from the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves. This can be due to a pinched or an inflamed nerve. It can also be due to nerve damage from hypoxia, multiple sclerosis or stroke. Sympathetic pain, on the other hand, is pain that has something to do with blood flow into the muscles and the skin. An example of this is pain from fractures or soft tissue injuries. Still, another type of pain is referred pain, which is pain felt distal to the site of injury.

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Pain and Gray Matter

Have you ever wondered why some people are extremely sensitive to pain while some are not? A recent study sheds light to this finding, its results having been published by the journal Pain. This study done by researchers from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center has shown that there is a part of the brain that determines how people can intensely perceive pain. They have found out that the amount of grey matter in the brain determines how sensitive the person is to pain. We can recall that the brain is made up of both gray matter and white matter. Gray matter is the part of the brain involved with processing information, while white matter is the one involved with communication between the other parts of the brain.

The researchers studied more than a hundred volunteers to find out whether there is truly a relationship between the amount of gray matter and pain sensitivity. They were tested by heating a small spot of their limb skin at 120 degrees Fahrenheit and making them rate the intensity of the pain that they have experienced. They then underwent MRI scans so that the researchers can study their brain structure. The researchers found out that subjects who have less gray matter in their brain have higher pain intensity levels.

The researchers hypothesized that those with a higher threshold for pain who have less gray matter in their brains can control their thoughts and attention well than their counterparts. This means that people who can focus their attention well can also keep their pain under control.

Browse through our other articles to know how to effectively fight pain.