손가락 꼬는 순서만 바꿔도 통증 감소 Crossing fingers can reduce feelings of pain

런던大 “신경 통로 배열에 따라 통증 달라져”

How you feel pain is affected by where sources of pain are in relation to each other, and 

so crossing your fingers can change what you feel on a single finger, finds new UCL research.

Credit: ⓒ lisa_L / Fotolia

edited by kcontents 

케이콘텐츠 

 

영국 연구진이 자세를 바꾸거나 적절한 부위에 다른 자극을 주면 사람이 느끼는 통증을 줄일 수 있다는 새로운 연구 결과를 내놨다. 만성 통증질환 환자들의 고통을 줄이는 데 도움이 될 것으로 보인다.   안젤라 메로타 런던대 인지신경과학연구소 박사팀은 통증을 느끼는 부위의 위치를 바꿔 주면 같은 상황에서도 통증이 경감된다는 연구 결과를 국제학술지 ‘커런트 바이올로지’ 26일자에 게재했다.   연구진은 ‘뜨거운 석쇠 환상(Thermal Grill Illusion)’이라는 현상을 이용한 실험을 진행했다. 이는 40도와 20도로 설정된 금속선을 번갈아 배치한 뒤 여기에 손을 댔을 때 종종 타는 듯한 고통을 느끼는 현상이다. 실제로 몸이 다치는 것은 아니지만 뇌가 착각을 일으켜 이런 고통을 느끼게 된다.   연구진은 검지와 중지, 약지의 배열을 바꿔가며 따뜻한 자극과 차가운 자극을 줬다. 검지와 중지, 약지에 순서대로 ‘따뜻함-차가움-따뜻함’ 자극을 줬을 때는 실험 대상자가 중지에 타는 듯한 고통을 느꼈다. 반면 검지와 중지를 꼬아서 위치를 바꿔 주자 각 손가락이 느끼는 자극은 그대로였음에도 느껴지는 고통은 크게 줄었다.   이번에는 검지와 중지를 꼰 상태에서 ‘따뜻함-차가움-따뜻함’ 순서로 자극을 줬다. 그러자 가운데 자리에 있는 검지에서 타는 듯한 고통이 느껴졌다. 즉 단순히 자세가 아닌 자극의 상대적인 위치가 통증을 조절에 중요한 역할을 한다는 뜻이다. 연구진은 자극을 느끼는 위치의 변화가 고통을 지각하는 뇌 신경회로에 영향을 미치는 것으로 추정했다.   패트릭 해거드 런던대 교수는 “만성적인 통증을 느끼는 환자들 중 많은 경우는 의료진의 예상보다 더 큰 통증을 호소한다”며 “이번 연구 결과는 적절한 부위에 추가적인 자극을 주거나 자세를 바꾸는 등의 방법으로 통증을 경감시킬 수 있음을 시사한다”고 말했다. 동아사이언스 최영준 기자 jxabbey@donga.com

 

Crossing fingers can reduce feelings of pain

How you feel pain is affected by where sources of pain are in relation to each other, and so crossing your fingers can change what you feel on a single finger, finds new UCL research. The research, published in Current Biology, used a variation on an established pain experiment, known as the "thermal grill illusion." In the thermal grill illusion, a pattern of warm-cold-warm temperatures applied to the index, middle and ring finger respectively causes a paradoxical, sometimes painful, sensation of burning heat on the middle finger -- even though this finger is actually presented with a cold stimulus. "The thermal grill is a useful component in our scientific understanding of pain," says Angela Marotta (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience), co-lead author in the research, "It uses a precisely-controlled stimulus to activate the brain's pain systems. This can certainly feel painful, but doesn't actually involve any tissue damage." The thermal grill produces burning heat sensations because of a three-way interaction between the nerve pathways that tell the brain about warmth, cold and pain. The warm temperature on the ring and index fingers blocks the brain activity that would normally be driven by the cold temperature on the middle finger. "Cold normally inhibits pain, so inhibiting the input from the cold stimulus produces an increase in pain signals," explains co-lead author Dr Elisa Ferre (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience). "It's like two minuses making a plus." The researchers showed that this interaction was based on the spatial arrangement of the fingers. When the middle finger was crossed over the index finger, the paradoxical sensation of burning heat on the middle finger was reduced. However, if the index finger was cooled and the middle and ring fingers were warmed, the burning heat sensation was now increased when the middle finger was crossed over the index finger. "Our results showed that a simple spatial pattern determined the burning heat sensation," says Dr Ferre. "When the cold finger was positioned in between the two warm fingers, it felt burningly hot. When the cold finger was moved to an outside position, the burning sensation was reduced. The brain seemed to use the spatial arrangement of all three stimuli to produce the burning heat sensation on just one finger." "Interactions like these may contribute to the astonishing variability of pain," says senior author Professor Patrick Haggard (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience). "Many people suffer from chronic pain, and the level of pain experienced can be higher than would be expected from actual tissue damage. Our research is basic laboratory science, but it raises the interesting possibility that pain levels could be manipulated by applying additional stimuli, and by moving one part of the body relative to others. Changing the spatial pattern of interacting inputs could have an effect on the brain pathways that underlie pain perception." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150326130837.htm

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