Lasting Effects of Pain :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Lasting Effects of Pain excogitationOnce upon a typical sunny day, Mary, Susie, and Jackie are jumping rope. unbeknownst(predicate) to them, as they chant their rhymes, Mikey and Kenny hide in the bushes planning a strike attack. Just as Marys little feet barely lift off the ground, the both boys leap towards the girls and push them into the dirt. Ouch they all scream as everyone hits the dirt. Mary is up on her feet with her knees skinned and bleeding. A smile tardily crept on her pillow slip as she tried to hold back a chuckle. Whats so special(a)? asked Mikey, as everyone turned to look at her. Arent you supposed to get crazy and chase us around? Mary shrugs and looks down at her knees. Doesnt that appall? asks Jackie. So what exactly does Mary feel when she hurts her knees? Pain, of course. But, how exactly does she experience it? Well, inside Marys tissues lie nociceptors. Nociceptors are specialized sensory nerves that are worked up when there is a potential for danger , such as Mary dropping to the ground. The stimulation of nociceptors, first, allows large-diameter, myelinated axons to carry rapidly conducted run potentials. This causes the sensation of a sharp, well-localized, pricking or cutting pain. It is then followed by a subdued burning or aching pain caused by more slowly propagated action potentials that are carried by smaller, less heavily myelinated axons (1). The action potentials are generated and conveyed to the central nervous system by way of a end in electrical potential (2). When the threshold potential difference for each nocicpetor is reached, a signal is sent to the central nervous system. As the signal continues to travel to the spinal cord, the medulla, the thalamus, and then the cerebral cortex, it must dart through a series of gates (3). According to the gate theory of pain, the awareness of pain can only get to the brain by passing through a series of gates (Melzack and Hall, 1965). To open a gate, a group of small neurons that form a pain share must reach their threshold. When it is reached, the signal is allowed to be sent higher. So as Mary and everyone else who falls to the ground, their body is undergoing this awareness of pain. Kenny is next to stand up. Owww, theres spinal column in my leg, he whimpered unhappily. Hey, you pushed us, and now youre crying?