Dr King found that if heat of more than 40C (104F) is applied to the skin near where internal pain is felt, it switches on heat receptors at the site of injury. These in turn block the body's ability to detect pain.Partly because it demonstrates that sometimes 'folk' remedies have some sense in them [even if the mechanism is not understood or even misattributed as in a lot of qi/chi 'science' from the east] and it tells us a little more of how 'fearfully and wonderfully made we are. But awe aside, there are also really helpful practical things can flow from this which are of interest to all who care about human suffering.
Dr King hopes his discovery will lead to new pain-relief drugs that could reduce the need for opiates such as morphine.
Guardian Unlimited | Science | Heat 'relieves internal pain':
Filed in: pain, control, relief
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