Where is pain registered in cns

For instance, if you accidentally step on a toy truck left lying around, how is your sensory nerve in the peripheral nervous system able to decipher the difference in pain sensations? Whenever an injury happens, special pain receptors called nociceptors are activated. Remember the toy truck from earlier? Your nociceptors will still shoot off a response from your nerve, through the spinal cord, en route to your brain due to the compression of the tissues in your foot from stepping on the toy truck.

The complexity of the spinal cord, with all its bundles of nerves transmitting all sorts of signals back and forth from the brain at will. Calling it the Indy for motor and sensory impulses would fit well. At the same time — directing impulses to the brain and back down the spinal cord to the injured area is the information hub. The information hub is an area of your spinal cord known as the dorsal horn. So, when you stepped on that truck, the first impulse was to quickly lift your foot, right?

So again, your spinal cord is like an office manager, but your brain is the CEO running the show. Physiology and pathophysiology of pain revised September In: eTG complete. Melbourne: Therapeutic Guidelines Limited; Nov. Types of pain revised February Skip to content.

You prick your finger on something sharp. This causes tissue damage, which is registered by microscopic pain receptors nociceptors in your skin. Each pain receptor forms one end of a nerve cell neurone.

It is connected to the other end in the spinal cord by a long nerve fibre or axon. When the pain receptor is activated, it sends an electrical signal up the nerve fibre. The nerve fibre is bundled with many others to form a peripheral nerve. The electrical signal passes up the neurone within the peripheral nerve to reach the spinal cord in the neck.

Within an area of the spinal cord called the dorsal horn, the electrical signals are transmitted from one neurone to another across junctions synapses by means of chemical messengers neurotransmitters. Signals are then passed up the spinal cord to the brain.

In the brain, the signals pass to the thalamus. This is a sorting station that relays the signals on to different parts of the brain. Signals are sent to the somatosensory cortex responsible for physical sensation , the frontal cortex in charge of thinking , and the limbic system linked to emotions.

Types of nerve fibre Different sensations are carried by different types of nerve fibre, as shown in the table below. Author: myDr. What is so bad about codeine, anyway? Norman Swan Pain October 18, ,. What is Fibromyalgia? Norman Swan Pain July 24, ,. What is hand, foot and mouth disease? Jennifer Stevens Arthritis April 2, ,. How is Chronic Pain Managed? Jennifer Stevens Pain March 30, ,. Next article Video: Do your genes control your weight?

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Necessary Necessary. The brain can send a signal back to the spinal cord and nerves to increase or decrease the severity of pain.

For example, the brain can signal the release of natural painkillers known as endorphins. Alternately, the brain can direct the release of neurotransmitters that enhance pain or hormones that stimulate the immune system to respond to an injury. Recent research has shown that people possess differing amounts of these neurotransmitters, possibly explaining why some people experience pain more intensely than others.

In general, pain is divided into two categories: acute and chronic. In an acute pain episode, pain receptors transmit information about an injury to the spinal cord and brain, leading you to protect the injured area. Examples of acute pain are burning yourself on the stove or stubbing your toe.