Pain management 2: Transmission of pain signals to the brain

Pain is the body’s way of telling us something is wrong, and has a sensory and emotional component. This three-part series focuses on acute pain, describing the physiology of a normal and well-behaved pain pathway and how this relates to commonly used pain management strategies. The first article introduced the pain system and how the body detects a threatening (noxious) stimulus. This article describes how that “pain message” is transmitted to the spinal cord and the brain and how the brain responds to the stimulus, while identifying pain relief strategies linked to the physiological process. Part 3, to be published next week, discusses pain assessment.