By: Jessica, Savannah, Maria, & Gracen Touch By: Jessica, Savannah, Maria, & Gracen

Touch Sense of touch is a mix of four distinct skin senses, pressure, warmth, cold and pain. Pressure- exertion of force on a surface by an object, fluid, etc….to come into contact with Warmth- sensation of moderate heat Cold- having a relatively low temperature, having little of no warmth Pain- physical suffering or distress FUN FACT: Warm+Cold=HOT when ice cold water passes through one coil, and comfortably warm water through another, we perceive the combined sensation as burning hot

Pain Pain is your body’s way of telling you something went wrong. Some people are born with not being able to feel pain, and others are born with chronic pain. No Pain- People born without the ability to feel pain may experience a severe injury without ever being alerted from the pain danger signals. Those with this condition usually die by early adulthood because without the discomfort that makes us shift positions, their joints fail from excess strain and without the warning of pain, the effects of unchecked infections and injuries accumulate. Chronic Pain- An alarm that will not shut off. For those with illness- related hyperalgesia (an extreme sensitivity to something others would find only mildly painful) the sensory receptors and brain work together to make life miserable.

Biological, psychological, and social-cultural influences on pain Activity in spinal cords large & small fibers Genetic differences in endorphin production The brains interpretation of CNS activity Psychological Attention to pain Learning based on experiences expectations Social-cultural Presence of others Empathy for others pain Cultural expectations Gate control theory- Melzack and Will came up with a theory that states that the spinal cord contains a neurological “gate” that either blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The spinal cord contains small nerve fibers that conduct most pain signal, and larger fibers that conduct most other sensory signals. When tissue is injured, the small fibers activate and open the neural gate, and you feel pain. Large fiber activity closes the “pain gate”, turning pain off.

Pain control If pain is where body meets mind, if it is indeed a physical and a psychological phenomenon, then it should be treatable by both physically and psychologically. Depending on the symptoms, pain control clinics select one or more therapies like drugs, surgery, acupuncture, electrical stimulation, massage, exercise, etc. Even a placebo can help by dampening the brains responses to painful experiences mimicking anal gesic drugs. The Lamaze method of childbirth combines relaxation (through deep breathing), counter stimulation (gentle massage), and distraction FUN FACT: counting backwards from 3’s is an effective way to increase pain tolerance

Other Vocabulary Somatosensory cortex- region of cerebral cortex receiving the somatic sensory radiation from the ventrobasal nucleus of the thalamus. Phantom limb sensation- dreamer may see with eyes closed and the listener may hear a ringing during utter silence. Acupuncture- Chinese medical practice/ procedure that treats illness/provides local anesthesia by the insertion of needles at specific sites of the body.