Confused brain, reduced pain

Recently in this news column we reported how swearing reduces pain by setting up a stress state in your brain and body. This is marvellous news for those of an ebullient nature but what about those of a more sensitive disposition? What about those who considering it swearing to say, “Goodness” with a particular emphasis on the “ness”? How do these genteel folk minimise their pains without popping a pill or turning the air blue? The answer may have been found in a new piece of research and it as close as your arms.

In this study participants were subjected to a laser generated pin prick on their hands which lasted only four milliseconds. The laser was used to generate “pure” pain, that is pain without any physical sensation of touch.

The subjects experienced the laser with their arms at their sides and then also with their arms crossed. They were asked to rate the intensity of the pain on both occasions and electroencephalograms (EEGs) were used to measure their brain responses in terms of electrical activity.

Both the subject’s pain assessment and the EEGs showed that the sensation of pain was significantly weaker when their arms were crossed.

The researchers explain this by referring to the way your brain perceives the world.

You tend to use your right hand for things on your right hand side and your left hand to touch things on your left. So the areas of your brain that contain a “map” of the right hand side of your body and those that contain a “map” of the right hand side of your external world usually operate together.

When you cross your arms these maps are not activated together any more.

This means the processing of external stimuli, including pain, is not as effective and therefore not as strong. So crossing your arms over your midline confuses your brain and reduces your pain. This is probably why people who have hurt a finger will automatically cross their arm across their body.

The good news then is that you have another way to achieve small reductions in pain. The bad news is that your brain’s interpretation of the world can be thrown into disarray by moving your arm about 30 centimetres. How did we put a man on the moon?

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