Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Does pain change your brain?

Marc Arginteanu, MD
Conditions
March 21, 2021
Share
Tweet
Share

I consult on many patients because they are suffering from pain. In fact, their pain is so severe that they are considering spinal surgery. More than 100,000 Americans decide to undergo surgery, and millions more have invasive procedures for low back pain or sciatica every year. You almost certainly know someone who has struggled with such a decision based on their subjective perception of their own pain. Why do some people tolerate pain better than others?

There are many possible reasons; some reside within the hard wiring of the brain.

The physical structure of the brain may be responsible for differences in pain tolerance. In 2014, a team of medical researchers reported that people with high pain tolerance have more gray matter or a greater density of brain cells in certain areas of the brain when compared to people who are more sensitive to pain.

The scientists asked 116 volunteers to rate the intensity of pain they experienced when a patch of their skin was heated to 120-degrees Fahrenheit. This is a temperature that will not cause permanent damage, but most people find it painful. At the same time, functional MRIs were performed to determine which areas of the brain were active.

The neuroscientists found that the brains of volunteers who tolerated pain with fewer complaints had greater grey matter density in several areas of the brain:

  • The primary somatosensory cortex (an area of the brain that interprets sensory information).
  • The rear part of the cingulate cortex (an area involved with emotion, learning, and memory).
  • The precuneus (an area that allows us to feel in control of our own actions and the events in the external world).
  • Intraparietal sulcus (an area that allows us to respond to things we experience).

The bottom part of the parietal lobe (an area involved in the perception of emotions and interpretation of sensory information).

This research, along with the work of many other scientists, helps elucidate the pathways of the brain by which we experience pain. Anatomical differences between individual’s brains may explain why certain people tolerate pain better than others.

But, are the differences in the brain the cause or the effect?

Some research suggests that pain, especially chronic pain, actually causes the grey matter in the areas described to waste away. Perhaps the different density of neurons is a result rather than a cause of differences in pain that an individual experiences.

The anatomical differences in the brain can be thought of as a “what comes first the chicken or egg?’ phenomenon. In other words, does one person tolerate pain better than another because she was born with different brain anatomy, or did the pain that she suffered irreversibly change her brain?

Marc Arginteanu is a neurosurgeon.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Accelerated by COVID-19, technology carves new pathways for everyone to access health care

March 21, 2021 Kevin 0
…
Next

Health care workers get the applause, but our families are essential, too

March 21, 2021 Kevin 0
…

ADVERTISEMENT

Tagged as: Neurology

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Accelerated by COVID-19, technology carves new pathways for everyone to access health care
Next Post >
Health care workers get the applause, but our families are essential, too

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Marc Arginteanu, MD

  • How the shingles vaccine could help prevent dementia

    Marc Arginteanu, MD
  • Diabetes and Alzheimer’s: What your blood sugar might be doing to your brain

    Marc Arginteanu, MD
  • Do microplastics cause dementia?

    Marc Arginteanu, MD

Related Posts

  • Blame the pain, not the opioids

    Angelika Byczkowski
  • Using low-dose naltrexone to treat pain

    Alex Smith
  • Why staying ahead of your pain with opioids is the wrong advice

    Myles Gart, MD
  • A paradigm shift in acute pain assessment and management

    Myles Gart, MD
  • 5 things I wish I had known earlier about chronic pain

    Tom Bowen
  • Merging the wisdom of pain medicine and addiction medicine to optimize outcomes

    Julie Craig, MD

More in Conditions

  • Why sleep is the missing pillar in modern health care

    Carlos Nunez, MD
  • How a family’s strength led to a successful kidney transplant

    C. Nicole Swiner, MD
  • Beyond the TikTok hype: Rebuilding trust in evidence-based weight loss medicine

    Sarah White, APRN
  • How deep transcranial magnetic stimulation is transforming mental health care

    Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD
  • Nurses aren’t eating their young — we’re starving the profession

    Adam J. Wickett, BSN, RN
  • What if medicine had an exit interview?

    Lynn McComas, DNP, ANP-C
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • When credibility is your only asset: the cautionary tale of DrKoop.com [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Medicalizing burnout misses the real problem

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • How robotics are reshaping the future of vascular procedures

      David Fischel | Conditions
    • Why gambling addiction is America’s next health crisis

      Safina Adatia, MD | Conditions
    • The man in seat 11A survived, but why don’t our patients?

      Dr. Vivek Podder | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

      Trisza Leann Ray, DO | Physician
    • Physician patriots: the forgotten founders who lit the torch of liberty

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Physician
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • When credibility is your only asset: the cautionary tale of DrKoop.com [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why sleep is the missing pillar in modern health care

      Carlos Nunez, MD | Conditions
    • How a family’s strength led to a successful kidney transplant

      C. Nicole Swiner, MD | Conditions
    • The food-drug interaction risks your doctor may be missing

      Frank Jumbe | Meds
    • Beyond the TikTok hype: Rebuilding trust in evidence-based weight loss medicine

      Sarah White, APRN | Conditions
    • The weaponization of rules: How regulatory overreach puts physicians and health care at risk

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • When credibility is your only asset: the cautionary tale of DrKoop.com [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Medicalizing burnout misses the real problem

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • How robotics are reshaping the future of vascular procedures

      David Fischel | Conditions
    • Why gambling addiction is America’s next health crisis

      Safina Adatia, MD | Conditions
    • The man in seat 11A survived, but why don’t our patients?

      Dr. Vivek Podder | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

      Trisza Leann Ray, DO | Physician
    • Physician patriots: the forgotten founders who lit the torch of liberty

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Physician
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • When credibility is your only asset: the cautionary tale of DrKoop.com [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why sleep is the missing pillar in modern health care

      Carlos Nunez, MD | Conditions
    • How a family’s strength led to a successful kidney transplant

      C. Nicole Swiner, MD | Conditions
    • The food-drug interaction risks your doctor may be missing

      Frank Jumbe | Meds
    • Beyond the TikTok hype: Rebuilding trust in evidence-based weight loss medicine

      Sarah White, APRN | Conditions
    • The weaponization of rules: How regulatory overreach puts physicians and health care at risk

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...