Change In Brain Chemistry Can Increase Pain Threshold, Study

Researchers at the Manchester University find that by utilizing chemistry in the brain, they can change the feelings of pain, also altering the treatment, according to The Daily Mail.

Scientists found that the body shows different reactions while facing "severe and constant pain". Hence, patients with arthritis got "additional receptors" in the brain, which notched up their pain threshold.

"There is generally a rather negative and fatalistic view of chronic pain," said Manchester Pain Consortium Director Anthony Jones. "This study shows that although the group as a whole are more physiologically vulnerable, the whole pain system is very flexible and that individuals can adaptively increase their resilience to pain."

In Manchester's study, some of the skins of the research contributors were subjected to some heat. Some were healthy and others had arthritis. Researchers found that those who had more opiates in the brain had a higher threshold for pain.

"Although the mechanisms of these adaptive changes are unknown, if we can understand how we can enhance them, we may find ways of naturally increasing resilience to pain without the side effects associated with many painkilling drugs," said researcher Christopher Brown.

The study was published in the journal Pain.