I really don’t get why some of my injuries are way more painful than others. I recently got a deep cut on my arm that will likely require stitches yet the pain was very minimal and it barely hurt at all. Yet sometimes I’ll simply bump my arm or leg into something and will feel like I want to burst into tears due to the high pain level. Why is this?
In: Biology
Pain is highly dependent on:
1. Concentration of a type of nerve involved with pain reception (called nocireceptors, or just nociceptors). Palms of your hands, soles of your feet, the face & features on the face, genitals, etc. are highly innervated (high concentration of nerves) & therefore much more sensitive to sensations, including pain.
2. Your pain “tolerance”. In other words, your ability to tolerate pain & your interpretation of the severity of that pain, based on your relative pain experience. If you’ve been shot in the past, stitches may seem like a walk in the park. However, if your greatest injury is a scrape on the knee, then stitches may seem excruciatingly painful.
3. Type of pain. There is nociceptive pain, categorized by physical burns, bone fractures, cuts, etc. Comparatively, there is neuropathic pain, described as a “burning” or “shooting sensation” and is often referred to as nerve pain.
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