Pain-Inflamation

Pain-Inflamation

It is an unpleasant stimulus, a very common sensation experienced by each one of us. Pain is our body’s way of sending warning to our brain. The degree to which one feels pain and one’s reaction to it is extremely variable, depending on our biological, psychological and cultural makeup. Each one of us has a different threshold for pain. Awareness of pain is a complex experience of sensing, feeling and thinking.

Pain occurs in many different types such as sharp, jabbing, throbbing, burning, stinging, tingling, nagging, dull and aching. Pain also varies in intensity, varying from mild or acute to severe or chronic. Severe pain is profoundly disturbing and generally produces a greater physical and emotional response than mild pain. Severe pain can also be incapacitating and interfere with our daily routine, compelling the patient to seek immediate relief usually from a doctor.

Nerve ending beneath our skin sense heat, cold, touch, pressure and pain. Whenever there is an injury to our body, these nerve endings get stimulated and will send impulses to our spinal cord and to our brain. Pain involves three major components of our nervous system :1)Peripheral nerves, 2) Spinal cord & 3) Brain.

1)   Peripheral Nerve :

They form a network of nerve fibers that spreads throughout body. At the ends of some of these special nerve endings “nocciceptors”, that can sence an unpleasant stimulus, such as a cut, burn or pressure. Nociceptors are most crowded in our skin, bones, joints, muscles and in the protective membrane around our internal organs. They can also sence pressure, temperature, chemical changes, detect inflammation caused by injury, disease or infection.

2) Spinal Cord:

When pain messages reach the spinal cord, they come across specialized nerve cells that act as “gatekeepers” and filter the massages that reach the brain. For severe pain that can cause body harm, e.g. touching a hot stove or when a pin pricks, the “gate” is opened wide and the massages delivered rapidly to our brain. Nerve cells in the spinal cord also respond to these urgent warnings. These cells in spinal cord trigger some other cells of the nervous system, such as motor nerves (reflex action). Our motor nerves cause our muscles to pull our hand away from the burner or pain. Weaker pain messages are filtered or blocked out at the gate.

3) Brain :

When pain messages climb up from spinal cord to reach the brain, they arrive at the thalamus, a sorting and switching station. The thalamus quickly interprets the messages as pain and forwards the impulses simultaneously to three specialized regions of our brain:

1. Physical sensation region (somatosensory cortex)

2. Emotional feeling region (Limbic system) and

3. Thinking region (Frontal cortex)

Our brain responds to the pain message by promoting healing eg. If we cut our finger, brain signals the autonomic nervous system to send additional blood and nutrients to the site of injury.

Natural Pain killers and pain enhancers

Painkillers:

Our brain and spinal cord produce their own painkillers called Endorphins or enkephalins, similar to morphine, a narcotic drug often used to treat severe pain. When released, these Chemical attach to spinal receptors in our brain, producing “stop-pain” messages.

Pain enhancers:

A protein called substance P stimulates nerve ending i.e nocciceptors at the site of injury to increase pain messages. Other pain enhancers work by activating normally silent nerve cells in the injured area thereby prompting these cells to amplify pain messages.