What Your Nose Knows But Your Back Doesn't

As I mentioned in a post recently pain or the lack thereof is an unreliable gauge of your health. But seeing and feeling are believing, so let’s perform an experiment. Throw caution to the wind and give your nose a vigorous pinch. Show enough enthusiasm for this experiment and it will bring tears to your eyes. There are lots of nerves in your nose and your face in general. On the other hand, the loose skin behind your elbow does not have many pain receptors. If you pinch this region and get on the correct spot you’ll notice that you only feel a painless dull sensation no matter how hard you pinch.

The contrast in your ability to perceive pain is due to the number of pain receptors (nociceptors) located in each region. It’s also dependent upon the amount of real estate your brain has dedicated to your nose and elbow. Your nose takes up a relatively large chunk of your brain as compared to the puny plot dedicated to the back of your elbow.

The amount of pain receptors in the discs in your low back and neck are roughly equivalent to those in your elbow. And there is only a small region of your brain dedicated to receiving signals from your low back and neck as compared to your nose and face.

So, keep three things in mind:

1. It is easy to damage your back and neck because you won’t feel pain and you’ll be unaware of your injury.

2. The fact that you do not feel pain does not mean that you don’t have damage occurring to your spine.

3. If you do feel pain and especially numbness, tingling or weakness you may have a serious condition like a disc bulge, disc herniation or stenosis. If these sensations occur, consider seeking medical attention.