Some nerves are myelinated, meaning that they are enhanced to send signals extra quick. Pain-detecting nerve cells are unmyelinated, so they don’t send signals as quickly as other nerve cells. This creates a delay between the time of injury and the time of pain recognition. Since the foot is the furthest body part from the brain, that time delay is more noticeable. There are other accounts of people recieving leg injuries, but not feeling the pain until a second later.
TL:DR Pain signals naturally travel slower up to the brain than other signals.
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