Pain > What is Pain? 

What is Pain?

1.

Our nerves and sensory systems (skin, eyes, ears, nose, mouth) discover a possibly dangerous situation that is happening or may be about to happen. This could be a physical danger (eg. pressure, stretch, friction, laceration), a chemical danger (eg. strong acids or caustic materials), or a thermal danger (eg. hot or cold). Nerves send this information to our brain, but there is no actual pain experienced at this stage of the process. 

2.

Our brain then scrutinises this information in a complex, almost instantaneous, subconscious process. It will consider the context and environment we are in, our unique past experiences, our knowledge and our beliefs to decide if our current situation is likely to be dangerous or not. Many parts of our brain are involved in this scrutiny.  Some parts focus on the location, nature, intensity and duration of the possibly dangerous sensation.  Other parts focus on how we FEEL emotionally and socially about this possibly dangerous sensation. 

3.

If our subconscious brain decides there is a danger or a potential danger, it will set off the alarm. This alarm is what we call pain. 

4.

Our brain then sends the pain alarm signal back to the body - to muscles, joints or organs.  The intensity and location of the pain we feel will be our brain’s best estimate of the kind of alarm that will achieve the desired result, which is to get our body to change our behaviour. So, we pull our hand away from the heat source, or take the weight off our sprained ankle, helping us avoid the possibly dangerous situation.