New Study Advances Understanding of How Heat and Pain Are Sensed and How Touch Can Become Painful

https://www.nccih.nih.gov/research/research-results/new-study-advances-understanding-of-how-heat-and-pain-are-sensed-and-how-touch-can-become-painful?nav=govd A study by investigators from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research provides new insights into how the nervous system detects heat and touch and how inflammation modifies these processes to trigger pain. This research was conducted and supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) intramural research program and published in the journal Nature. Nerve terminals in the skin allow us to make fine distinctions about our surroundings. However, after injury or inflammation, it has long been believed that these neurons must respond differently than they normally do since they now trigger pain. In fact, three types of inflammatory pain are clinically recognized: ongoing pain, heightened pain (hyperalgesia), and pain from normally innocuous stimuli (allodynia).