Keep the pain structure simple. Specialized nerve endings travel from the body to the spinal cord and finally to the brain. These nerves act as pathways for stimuli to travel. Tapping your toes creates an impulse to move quickly from your toes to your brain. Your brain then interprets what happened to the poor toe. Based on your current location (in the shower) and past experiences there (I’ve bumped my toe against that silly doorpost before), your brain knows what happened. , the noxious stimulus from tapping the toe is felt as pain.
Purpose of Pain
Pain can occur when a potentially harmful object, such as a hot stove or a sharp knife, comes into contact with a particular nerve. This alert tells your brain that something dangerous might happen to your body and that you should pay immediate attention to painful stimuli to protect your body from the problem.
Pain can be thought of as the body’s alarm system.
However, pain can be tricky because the brain can perceive it even in the absence of an actual emergency or potential harm to the body. Factors other than the nerves that send them may be involved. Other psychological variables that influence pain perception include:
- Your previous experience
- Your expectations and beliefs about pain
- Depression
- Your current environment and environment
Pain Management with Gate Theory
Imagine the neural pathways leading from your body to your brain. These nerves carry information about pressure, heat or cold, and pain to the brain.
When these nerves are stimulated, they travel to the brain, which interprets the stimulus. It can be a pain, a gentle touch, tingling, pressure, heat, or cold.
What if there’s a gate on that path that only lets particular messages through at certain times? What if you could give your body a slight electrical tingling sensation that would go through a gate, and no other message would go to your brain?
Here’s how the pain gate theory works:
It applies a harmless stimulus to the body to close the gate and prevent painful stimuli from entering the brain.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
Specific stimuli are used to generate harmless signals to close the gate. The best-known of these is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Medical professionals commonly use it to help patients control their pain and use gate theory to accomplish this task. When using TENS, small electrodes are attached to the body. Thin wires connect these electrodes to his TENS machine, and electrical pulses are applied to the electrodes.
This urge is usually felt as a slight tingling sensation. The current may cause the muscles in the area of the electrodes to gently contract and relax.
The tingling of TENS passes through the gate and is experienced as pleasure. When this happens, the “gates” of neural pathways close, preventing painful stimuli from reaching the brain and being felt.
Other attractions
Some people with chronic pain benefit from having electrical stimulation wires implanted along the spinal canal. The wires directly stimulate nerve fibers, reducing pain and improving the overall quality of life. Improve quality.
Even something as simple as rubbing an injured body part can be used. If you bump your toe and it hurts, you can rub it to relieve the pain. For painful stimuli, frictional stimuli are thought to pass through the gate and close. Pain science and research
Pain gate Control Theory is just that: Theory. And the theory needs to be tested and challenged by science. Because pain perception is highly subjective, it cannot be easy to test.
Some researchers have tested the pain gate theory by using electricity to stimulate different types of nerve fibers. Certain stimuli have been shown to excite pain nerve fibers, while other stimuli inhibit these fibers. This led the researchers to conclude that the gating mechanism was at work.
Other studies have found that while gate theory is helpful for pain control, more global biopsychosocial models of pain perception are more accurate. It considers many factors contributing to pain, including anatomy, psychological experiences, and social interactions.
Studies on the use of TENS have shown mixed results. Some studies have shown reasonable pain control with TENS, while others have shown slight improvement in pain with TENS. In 2001, a group called the Philadelphia Panel published a series of articles giving a “C” grade (no benefit seen) to the use of TENS for problems such as back pain, shoulder pain, and knee pain.
A word from Verywell
Pain gate control theory is a simple way to understand how pain is perceived and controlled in acute and chronic pain. Put:Harmless stimuli pass through the gateway to the brain, preventing painful emotions from entering the brain.
This pain management model helps determine the best approach for pain relief. By working with your doctor or health care professional, you can use gate theory to maximize your chances of successfully controlling your pain.