Pain

High school (ages 12+)
Human Body

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/pain

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the central sensitization?A phenomenon in chronic pain where the nervous system becomes hypersensitive
2. What is the biopsychosocial model?Pain is understood as influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors
3. What is pain and why does it feel bad?Pain is a signal that tells us something might be hurting or could hurt. It feels unpleasant because it helps us protect our bodies.
4. How does our body send a pain message?Tiny nerve endings called nociceptors turn hurtful touch into electrical signals that travel to the brain through nerves.

Nociception: The sensory nervous system's process of encoding noxious stimuli.
Afferent Fibers: Nerve fibers that transmit sensory information towards the central nervous system.
Somatosensory Cortex: The brain region responsible for processing touch, temperature, pain, and pressure.