Counting on Pain? Maybe You Should Be…
February 21, 2008 by Liberty Kontranowski
Filed under A Mother's Wisdom, Across the Pond, Easy Health Tips, Medicine, Pain, Prevention, Your Body, Your Mind
Next time you find yourself with a needle barreling toward any one of your body parts, revert back to your toddler days and begin counting out loud to anyone who will listen. And why is that? Because Japanese researchers were good enough to find that counting may effectively numb you to injection pain. (I know, I know. This is a little after-the-fact, isn’t it Mr. Clemens?)
In fact, patients who counted out loud while receiving a poke reported no discomfort, as opposed to non-counters who experienced both stinging (during) and soreness (after) the pick.
So why such an odd prescription for heading off pain? The theory here is that counting may influence the brain’s ouch-detector, thereby pretty much blocking out the pain.
Think you might still need an extra dose of boo-boo busting? Try counting and closing your eyes at the same time. Studies have shown that your pain receptors kick into high gear when you actually witness yourself getting poked. Look away and distract yourself with a little mental Sudoku and you’re bound to walk away from your visit with nothing other than a band-aid and a lollypop as a reminder.
Kelly Townsend
I find that running to the nearest corner and screaming “NONONONO” repeatedly tends to reduce the pain. I’m not sure why, but after every shot as I sit with my sucker I think, hey that wasn’t so bad, and everyone agrees.
Yanno Paul, that same trick works pretty well for my four-year-old, too.
Heh.
Great advice, Liberty. I’ll be sure to check it out.
Hey, where’d you get the neat “check me out” stuff on your comments?
Hey Gab, you might know a thing or two about injections these days, I’ll bet. Hopefully this little tactic will work for you.
The “check me out” stuff is a trial on b5’s end. We’re just the guinea pigs right now.
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