ELi5 Why is it that when you hit your knee or elbow you can get that numbing pain sensation rather than a direct stubs kind of pain?

Question

ELi5 Why is it that when you hit your knee or elbow you can get that numbing pain sensation rather than a direct stubs kind of pain?

In: Biology

Answer 1

The tingling is from a nerve being hit. For example in the elbow it’s the ulnar nerve. if you hit a toe you’re impacting skin, muscle, fat, bone, and some nerve endings but the ends don’t have further nerves to propogate sensations to.

Think of lightning striking the ground. If it hits on a wire, the electricity flows through that wire to the end of it and will shock anyone along the way. When you hit your nerve the same thing happens.