Researchers Find Cause of Pain!?

“Cause of Chronic Pain Discovered” read the headlines this morning. Sure, I thought, this is another case where headlines glorify the findings and mislead readers. Or not. The story speaks for itself:

“In a study released Tuesday, Sally Lawson and Laiche Djouhri of the University of Bristol revealed that healthy nerve fibers are the culprits of spontaneous pain, one of three symptoms of chronic pain.”

“‘We really followed our noses. No one was examining this problem of spontaneous pain,'” said Lawson, a professor of physiology.

“Lawson and colleagues found healthy nerve fibers send messages of pain to the spinal cord, an unexpected discovery. Of the little research done on chronic pain, researchers had previously focused on damaged nerve fibers as pain conduits.”

“Lawson and colleagues concentrated on the healthy nerve fibers of rats and found these robust cells were detecting damage and firing electrical impulses from the site of the injury to the spinal cord. These healthy nerve fibers, called nociceptors, are the tiniest of nerve fibers, about a thousandth of a millimeter across.”

“The study also found that the more information these healthy fibers send, the stronger the pain.”

This finding is equivalent to landing on the moon, at least in my mind. I’m definitely skeptical, but I still teared up and starting shaking when I read the articles. Is it too good to be true?

The story was released less than an hour ago, but major news sources should be digging into in the next couple days. I’ll keep you posted.