How does my body feel pain?

Your body has roughly twenty different nerve endings in the skin that tell you if something is hot, cold, or going to be painful. The nerve endings convey this information to the brain and spinal cord, also known as the central nervous system, areas where we perceive the stimuli. To accomplish this, the nerve endings of the sensory receptors convert mechanical, thermal, or chemical energy into electrical signals or the painful sensations you actually feel: searing, burning, pounding, or throbbing, among others.

However, pain is more than what you feel at a particular anatomical site. Researchers believe that pain is in your nerves.

When a person experiences pain, the perception of pain involves a coordinated effort between the peripheral nerves, spinal cord and brain.

Peripheral nerves associated with the skin, muscles, connective tissue, bones, joints and the lining of internal organs are equipped with specialized receptors called nociceptors. When nociceptors detect injury or the potential for injury, they initiate a pain message and send it along the peripheral nerves toward your spinal column. This message is sent in the form of an electrical impulse. The spinal cord then transmits the message to the brain. In the brain, the electrical signal translates into the sensation known as pain.

Have you ever noticed how it takes longer to feel pain from a stubbed toe compared to a hurt finger? That's because the nerves transmitting the pain message from your foot to your brain are relatively long compared to nerves running from your hands to your brain; it takes longer for a pain message from your foot to register in the brain.

Pain begins with a physical stimulus (damage to tissue or nerves) which is modified in the brain. It results in an awareness that something harmful or noxious is happening somewhere in the body. This results in an emotional response, a behavior that is associated with intense feelings of displeasure. Pain has a protective purpose. It is a warning sign of wounding or damage.

Pain acts as a warning to protect your body from getting seriously hurt. In order to feel pain, your skin has danger receptors. For example, when you touch something too hot, a relay system is set up in your body. The danger receptors are called into action and release chemical messengers. The messengers carry the danger message along your nerves, all the way to your spinal cord and then along the spinal cord to your brain. When the message arrives, the brain decides if something needs to be done. It sounds an alarm (pain) and sends a pain message, so that you know which part of your body is hurting and what your body needs to do. All of this happens really quickly; so if you burn yourself, you feel pain almost right away. Although the pain can be intense at first, it fades quickly. When the messages disappear, it stops hurting.