The pain threshold is a problem of interest to many different scientists. In the past it was thought to be similar for all people, but it is now known that everyone has a different pain threshold. What makes some people have a low pain threshold and others a high? And why a high pain threshold - contrary to appearances - is not beneficial at all?

Contents:

  1. Pain threshold for different stimuli
  2. Pain threshold and pain tolerance
  3. Factors influencing pain threshold
  4. Why is a high pain threshold unfavorable?

The pain thresholdis defined as the smallest intensity of a given stimulus - sound, thermal sensation or touch - at which a person begins to feel pain.

Until recently, it was believed that in all people the pain threshold is similar and that individual people experience the same intensity of pain stimuli in a similar way. Today, however, it is already known that this is not the case.

The pain threshold is influenced by many different factors, such as

  • age
  • human diseases
  • medications he is taking

It is worth mentioning here that currently the dominant view is that it is impossible to determine one constant value (measured by the intensity of a stimulus) of the pain threshold in a given person. You can define this threshold at a time, but it can change for one person, even on the same day.

Pain threshold for different stimuli

Basically, in every human being we can talk not about one, but about several pain thresholds - because they are different for different stimuli. Taking this into account, we can distinguish the pain threshold of sounds, the pain threshold of temperature or the pain threshold related to pressure (exerting pressure) on some tissues.

It should be noted here, that the above-mentioned theories that people have identical pain thresholds, are not completely inconsistent with the reality. Well, stimuli of a certain intensity cause pain sensations in most people.

In the case of sounds, discomfort may be caused by sounds in the range of 120-140 dB and more, and in the case of temperature, pain occurs typically when exposed to contact with objects of 50 or more degrees Celsius.

Pain threshold and pain tolerance

Sometimes the above-mentioned terms are confused with each other, while these terms define completely different termsphenomena.

The definition of the pain threshold has already been described above,pain tolerancemeans the highest pain intensity that a given person can endure.

As the pain threshold in different people for different stimuli is similar, it is definitely different with pain tolerance - it turns out that individual people may have very different tolerance to pain sensations.

Factors influencing pain threshold

How people feel pain, and when they start feeling it at all, is influenced by several different factors.

One of them is age. It turns out that the elderly - especially those who develop some sensory disturbances with age - may be less prone to pain (thus have a higher pain threshold) than young patients.

The relationship with the pain threshold may also be associated with exposure to various stimuli in the everyday environment - it is noticeable that in people exposed to noise (due to their profession or listening to music very loud) pain may appear after exposure to much more intense sounds than in people who come into contact with silence on a daily basis.

A relationship with the pain threshold is also associated with diseases that affect a person. For example, patients who have been suffering from diabetes for many years have a higher pain threshold - their altered perception of pain stimuli is sometimes the result of damage to the nerve fibers.

It turns out, however, that in the course of certain diseases, changes may take place in the body, which are aimed at reducing the feeling of pain. Here it is worth mentioning the research that was carried out in patients suffering from arthritis.

It turned out that in such patients - compared to he althy people - the number of opioid receptors in their nervous systems may increase.

In this case, these people may increase the sensitivity of nerve cells to the analgesic endorphins, which may reduce their pain and increase the pain threshold.

Why is a high pain threshold unfavorable?

Theoretically, it would seem that a high pain threshold is beneficial, but in practice it definitely is not.

As an example, we can give, for example, patients suffering from diabetes, who are generally burdened with an increased risk of a heart attack.

In such people - due to the altered pain threshold - the symptoms of a heart attack may be less than typically severe and non-specific, which may result in the necessary treatment being introduced too late.

It is worth mentioning here that painin fact, it has a protective effect - if we did not feel it, we would not withdraw our hand after contact with hot water (which would result in burns), nor would we run away from extremely loud sounds (which could lead to permanent damage to our hearing organs and deafness).

  • Hypoaesthesia - when the fire does not burn
  • Chronic pain: causes, diagnosis, treatment
About the authorBow. Tomasz NęckiA graduate of medicine at the Medical University of Poznań. An admirer of the Polish sea (most willingly strolling along its shores with headphones in his ears), cats and books. In working with patients, he focuses on always listening to them and spending as much time as they need.

Read more from this author

Category:

Neurology