The science of pain is actually very interesting, and involves everything from chemistry to cultural studies and everything in between. It can get complicated, but we’ll keep things simple and understandable while remaining as accurate as possible. Here we will start with some of the basic science of how potential pain is detected and transmitted… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Injuries and Pain
Ankle sprains… caught in the act!
Learning how injuries happen can help us prevent and treat them. Unfortunately, you can’t just do a study asking people to hurt themselves on purpose… those pesky ethical committees would never approve of your brilliant study. Then how are we supposed to collect such data? Accidentally of course! Researchers in Germany were doing a study with… Continue Reading
How Pain Works, Part II – Acute vs. Chronic
As you learn more about how pain works, you’ll notice a distinction is made between ‘acute’ and ‘chronic’ pain. What does this mean? Is it just a matter of time? Or is there something different happening when pain persists? It turns out to be a bit more complicated than once thought… let’s discuss!… Continue Reading
Secrets Of The Mind – PBS NOVA Documentary
I remember seeing this during my undergraduate degree in neuroscience. I was absolutely blown away at the time, and it has had a powerful influence on my thinking ever since. It originally broadcast in 2001 – which is a long time in the world of neuroscience – but it’s still relevant today. “Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran,… Continue Reading
How Pain Works, Part I – What Is It?
This is the first installment of a series of articles discussing how pain works, and what we can do about it. It’s important, long overdue, and I’m excited to finally write about it! However, before we dive into the surprisingly interesting and not-so-scary science of pain, there’s a couple of important questions we should ask… Continue Reading