Part 2 The Brain Pain relationship?
The brain is the area we need to understand when explaining pain.
Part one of this GeriTraK series about pain covered some of the reasons why pain can be so difficult to define.
Once again, there are many theories about why different people feel pain in varying ways.
One of the reasons for the variation in pain perception is because our nervous systems are highly variable in response to pain, and a multitude of different factors can come into play when pain could be an outcome.
A good place to start when thinking about human pain responses is to look at the brain.
Brain involvement
Science has discovered that the brain interprets the signals coming from the body, including signals that the brain may, or may not, decide should be brought to our attention as pain.
Science has also acknowledged that the brain can both ignore or magnify body inputs. Sometimes, the brain is mistaken in the interpretation given to the bodies signals. We are fallible because our brains are fallible.
The brain receives signals from the body in a number of ways, including small nerve fibers in the tissues, and also from major nerves in the spinal cord.
It is very important for us if we are to begin an understanding of pain, that the bodies nerves are sending signals but those signals are not pain signals. The signals require interpretation, and the brain is the master interpreter.
The same as a language interpreter can make mistakes and pervert the meaning of a concept due to complex grammar, so too can the brain misunderstand the signals coming from the body.
The brain can react in a way caused by its own bias to behave a certain way.
As alluded to in Part one of this series, the brain can make decisions based on previous experience and also influences from education, such as in childhood. If someone has a belief that pain means damage of tissues, the pain felt may be perceived as worse than someone who does not have such a belief.
Part 3 Does Pain Mean Damage?
GeriTraK. Good To Know