I found this information VERY interesting, especially as it coincides with so much of what I've learned about pain myself over the years, both by living with it and by studying the mechanisms of pain thoroughly. Like almost everything else that goes on in the body, the cause of pain is a chain reaction. It includes two seperate stimuli for each sensation of pain, one of which reaches the brain a second or two before the other, creating an echo effect. The two also lead to seperate areas of the brain, one of which deals with protection of the body and the other in an area linked to memory.

The human body never stops trying to heal itself, which is why so many physical changes occur in those with chronic pain. I've read studies where autopsies which were performed on long-term chronic patients revealed that the nerve cells in their bodies had developed more ganglia than those in a normal person. Chemical changes take place. The spine man thicken up to fifty percent. In essence, the body can become more sensitive to the pain as a strategy to try to identify its source.

Thanks again for posting this, Mike. I really did enjoy it.