Crossing Arms Reduces Pain Intensity | Arthritis Information
If you have a pain, for example in your hand, and you cross your arms over the
midline, it reduces the intensity of that sensation of pain by confusing the
brain, scientists from University College London reported in the journal
Pain. The researchers think that conflicting information between the
brain's two maps - one for the person's body and the other for external space -
results in a reduction of pain sensation.
When you do things, your brain
is used to your left hand being on the left side of your body and your right
hand on your right. When we cross our arms, the hands are on the other side -
there is a mismatch - resulting in weaker processing of noxious information, and
a lower sensation of pain.
Dr Giandomenico Iannetti, lead author,
suggested:
"Perhaps when we get hurt, we should not only
"rub it better"
but also cross our arms."
In this small study involving
eight participants, a laser generated a four millisecond pin prick on their
hands which gave them a sensation of "pure pain" - pain with no
touch.
The participants experienced this stimulus with their arms at
their sides, and then their arms crossed. They were asked to rate their
perception of pain intensity. An EEG (electroencephalography) was also used to
measure their electrical brain responses.
Both the participants' self
reporting and the EEG readings showed that their sensation of pain was
considerably weaker with crossed arms.
Iannetti wrote:
"In everyday life you mostly use your left
hand to touch things on the left side of the world, and your right hand for the
right side of the world - for example when picking up a glass of water on your
right side you generally use your right hand.
This means that the areas
of the brain that contain the map of the right body and the map of right
external space are usually activated together, leading to highly effective
processing of sensory stimuli. When you cross your arms these maps are not
activated together anymore, leading to less effective brain processing of
sensory stimuli, including pain, being perceived as weaker.
These findings could help create new ways for
treating pain, the researchers believe.
"The analgesic effect of crossing the
arms"A. Gallacea, D.M.E. Tortab, , G.L. Moseleyd and G.D.
Iannetti
PAIN - Volume 152, Issue 6, June 2011, Pages 1418-1423
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/226119.phpInteresting...I'll have to try that!
This is very interesting ! the things we simply take for granted without even knowing it i have to try this...
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