Why do we feel pain?

<p>Why do we feel pain when we get hurt? What is pain? Why do we cry when we get hurt? Why do we say ow or ouch? We’re learning about how pain works with <a href="https://joshuawpate.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Joshua Pate</a>. He’s a physical therapist and author of a forthcoming <a href="https://www.noigroup.com/product/zoe-and-zaks-pain-hacks/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">children’s book series</a> about pain.</p> <p>Download our learning guides: <a href="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/67/e9/5cc04f7e49f9a0a3fc2953afe552/why-do-we-feel-pain.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PDF</a> | <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hvmUmeVjb9oBQeZGIT1WxatQzpVarlcDseSZ-cbwwvs/copy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Google Slide</a> | <a href="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/ce/53/8953d7024fdfbd16a20d9c4282fa/but-why-187-pain-transcript.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Transcript</a></p> <ul> <li><p>Pain happens when your body sends signals to your brain that something is wrong. And your brain sends signals to your body to feel pain! Pain is protective–it lets us know to stop doing something that is damaging or might damage our bodies. And it lets us know that something is wrong and we might need to get help from an adult or a medical provider.</p></li> <li><p>When you get hurt, like scraping your knee for example, the nerve cells in the knee send a message to the brain. Your eyes might see the scraped knee and send another message to your brain. Then your brain has to decide how much danger your knee is in. Pain is messaging that lets your brain know that something is not well. If you didn’t have that pain, you might keep scraping your knee over and over.</p></li> <li><p>Pain is biopsychosocial, meaning biology, psychology and social or environmental factors all play a role in what pain feels like for individual people.</p></li> <li><p>A lot of things can turn the feeling of pain up or down. Distraction, like listening to music or watching a video can help turn pain down. Staring at the source of pa