Why is it when you stub your toe (or something similar), your body takes a moment to realise that it is in pain?
In: Biology
I don’t have time right now to Google the exact nerve type conducting the signal. But some things can be sensed in nerves that travel slower like for got example Tactile or touch receptors (mechanoceptors) when activated signal via A beta nerves which have a diameter of 6 to 12 micrometers. Temperature on the other hand is sensed by thermoceptors that signal via A delta (1 to 5 micrometer diameter) and C (0.2 to 0.5 micrometer diameter) fibers. Due to the laws of physics, the narrower the nerve the higher the resistance, the slower the signal. That’s why Touch signals travel at 35 to 75 meters per second while temperature signals travel at 0.5 to 2 meters per second.
Some nerves like type C also don’t have myelin sheath. Which is this fatty layer surrounding neurons. It functions to reduce leak and insulate, making signal transduction much faster. Actually many types of chronic pain signal with those. But I’m just not sure about acute pain right now.
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