Pain ! What is pain ?
Pain is an abnormal, unwelcome & unusual sensation. Pain can be physical or psychological. Today, i would like to discuss only about the physical pain.
Many of us are afraid of pain & would like to escape from pain. Many of us hate pain & think that we are unlucky, which is not true. But pain is a God's Gift to us. The presence of pain tells us that our body is working properly, but there is some disturbance in its function.
Pain indicates some or the other injury inside our body. The intensity of pain depends upon the severity of the injury. If there were no pain, then we may not have known about the injury, especially if it's an internal injury.
So, pain is Good, pain is Must if there is any injury. Whenever there is an injury, in the initial stages of the injury itself, we can identify it because of pain. If the pain were absent, we would not have a chance to identify the injury & the injury would have caused a remarkable damage by the time we identify it & treat it.
Now, i would like to explain you about Pain Gate Theory proposed by Melzack & Wall in 1962. (Do not worry. I will try to simplify it as much as possible. Believe me, it's interesting). This theory tells us about the travel of pain in our body. First of all, you have to know a few facts !
(i). Our eyes cannot see
(ii). Our ears cannot hear
(iii). Our tongue cannot taste
(iv). Our nose cannot smell
(v). Our skin cannot feel touch or pain
You might be surprised, but it's true & all these functions are done by our brain through the above said organs i.e.,
(i). The brain sees through our eyes,
(ii). The brain hears / listens through our ears,
(iii). The brain tastes through our tongue,
(iv). The brain smells through our nose &
(v). The brain feels touch or pain through our skin.
Now, with the above said, we can come to a conclusion that all the above mentioned organs are only like doorways or windows to the outside world for our brain, but not the real ones to sense something.
So, when pain has to travel from the injury site to the brain, obviously it will have some way to pass through.
Pain from the injury site, at first, goes to the spinal cord & then leaves for brain. Let us say, there are two types of fibers in our neural system (which carry the sensations like touch & pain). The first one is thin fiber & the second one is large fiber.
The thin fiber carries pain & the large fiber carries touch. Now, as the fibers that carry touch are large enough, their speed of carrying touch is also high & as the fibers that carry pain are thin, their speed to carry pain is relatively slow. Hence, the sensation of touch is carried faster than the sensation of pain. When touch sensation travels at high speed, it first occupies those neural paths of the spinal cord which carry these sensations to brain & doesn't permit pain to occupy its position. Hence, this is the reason why when somebody gets hurt & feels pain, if he rubs his finger around the injury, he feels soothened & it gives him relief.
We generally take pain killers (medicines) to reduce pain. But let me tell you that the term "Pain Killer" is a misnomer. Pain killers never kill the pain. But they obstruct the pain at the spinal cord level & don't allow the pain to reach the brain & we think that the pain is reduced & we try to work normally. But remember that the pain has not been reduced, but instead its just temporarily been blocked in the spinal cord. That's why a pain killer (analgesic) acts for only 6-8 hours & again the person starts feeling pain. Remember that until you solve the problem or the issue because of which the pain was produced, the pain would exist. So, act accordingly. Never try to stop or obstruct the pain, instead try to find out the cause & treat the cause.
Rarely, pain is produced without any cause. Sometimes, it may present itself in an amputated part & this type of pain is known as 'Phantom Pain' (false pain). In a few chronic cases, the pain may be felt eventhough the problem is been solved.
Pl. try to understand pain. Its abnormal but indirectly is protecting us.
Let us know more about physical pain in "Pain (physical) - Part II".
Pain is an abnormal, unwelcome & unusual sensation. Pain can be physical or psychological. Today, i would like to discuss only about the physical pain.
Many of us are afraid of pain & would like to escape from pain. Many of us hate pain & think that we are unlucky, which is not true. But pain is a God's Gift to us. The presence of pain tells us that our body is working properly, but there is some disturbance in its function.
Pain indicates some or the other injury inside our body. The intensity of pain depends upon the severity of the injury. If there were no pain, then we may not have known about the injury, especially if it's an internal injury.
So, pain is Good, pain is Must if there is any injury. Whenever there is an injury, in the initial stages of the injury itself, we can identify it because of pain. If the pain were absent, we would not have a chance to identify the injury & the injury would have caused a remarkable damage by the time we identify it & treat it.
Now, i would like to explain you about Pain Gate Theory proposed by Melzack & Wall in 1962. (Do not worry. I will try to simplify it as much as possible. Believe me, it's interesting). This theory tells us about the travel of pain in our body. First of all, you have to know a few facts !
(i). Our eyes cannot see
(ii). Our ears cannot hear
(iii). Our tongue cannot taste
(iv). Our nose cannot smell
(v). Our skin cannot feel touch or pain
You might be surprised, but it's true & all these functions are done by our brain through the above said organs i.e.,
(i). The brain sees through our eyes,
(ii). The brain hears / listens through our ears,
(iii). The brain tastes through our tongue,
(iv). The brain smells through our nose &
(v). The brain feels touch or pain through our skin.
Now, with the above said, we can come to a conclusion that all the above mentioned organs are only like doorways or windows to the outside world for our brain, but not the real ones to sense something.
So, when pain has to travel from the injury site to the brain, obviously it will have some way to pass through.
Pain from the injury site, at first, goes to the spinal cord & then leaves for brain. Let us say, there are two types of fibers in our neural system (which carry the sensations like touch & pain). The first one is thin fiber & the second one is large fiber.
The thin fiber carries pain & the large fiber carries touch. Now, as the fibers that carry touch are large enough, their speed of carrying touch is also high & as the fibers that carry pain are thin, their speed to carry pain is relatively slow. Hence, the sensation of touch is carried faster than the sensation of pain. When touch sensation travels at high speed, it first occupies those neural paths of the spinal cord which carry these sensations to brain & doesn't permit pain to occupy its position. Hence, this is the reason why when somebody gets hurt & feels pain, if he rubs his finger around the injury, he feels soothened & it gives him relief.
We generally take pain killers (medicines) to reduce pain. But let me tell you that the term "Pain Killer" is a misnomer. Pain killers never kill the pain. But they obstruct the pain at the spinal cord level & don't allow the pain to reach the brain & we think that the pain is reduced & we try to work normally. But remember that the pain has not been reduced, but instead its just temporarily been blocked in the spinal cord. That's why a pain killer (analgesic) acts for only 6-8 hours & again the person starts feeling pain. Remember that until you solve the problem or the issue because of which the pain was produced, the pain would exist. So, act accordingly. Never try to stop or obstruct the pain, instead try to find out the cause & treat the cause.
Rarely, pain is produced without any cause. Sometimes, it may present itself in an amputated part & this type of pain is known as 'Phantom Pain' (false pain). In a few chronic cases, the pain may be felt eventhough the problem is been solved.
Pl. try to understand pain. Its abnormal but indirectly is protecting us.
Let us know more about physical pain in "Pain (physical) - Part II".
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