Chapter 1. The Secret World of Pain

Introduction

Piotr Marcinski

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Video

Although the pain from a minor sports injury usually disappears, in the case of the young woman in this video clip it didn’t. Now, years later, she suffers from complex regional pain syndrome. This BBC video clip explains that while hundreds of genes are involved in pain, life events may be just as important in explaining individual variations in how pain is experienced. All sensory pathways, including those involved in experiencing pain, require stimulation to develop fully. In her studies comparing the brain development of newborns, Maria Fitzgerald has found that premature babies, who often undergo frequent painful procedures such as heel-prick blood tests, have stronger brain activity than full-term babies. Could it be that the repeated procedures have altered neural pathways and shaped an increased sensitivity to pain?

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