Is there an explanation as to why pain caused by something internal to the body (ie tooth pain, stomach ache, ear ache, kidney stones, etc) always seems to hurt so much more than pain caused by something external to the body (ie you get a cut/scrape/bruise or step on something like a rock or a lego or a thumbtack)? It’s something I noticed recently and was hoping for an explanation as to why that was the case.
In: Biology
I would assume it’s because there are more nerves inside the body as that’s where your organs are etc…
The pain you’re experience is visceral pain. Essentially our organs don’t really have any nerves and if they do, there isn’t many of them so it leads to some miss communication of pain (ie heart attack causing arm pain).
The reason it’s so painful for things like appendicitis and stomach aches is because there is usually an inflammation or lack of blood flow causing a thin layer of tissue (it’s an organ technically) called the peritoneum. As this houses the rest of your organs, your body’s response is to elicit pain… like really painful pain, because that’s where all the important stuff is and it’s telling you that things aren’t right.
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