My father has some kind of neurodegenerative disorder that’s very painful. The doctors say the nerve cells are turned on and got stuck in the on position. If they can be turned on, why can’t they be turned off?

Pain and how it works in the body is still a large mystery. What we don’t know about pain is much more than what we do know. Everyday, scientists are studying the problem of pain. Animal studies are helping us get closer to understanding the problem and finding a solution.

For example, researchers in Japan are testing rats with crushed nerve injuries. They have found a signaling pathway that may be part of how pain gets turned on. They found specific receptor sites in the spinal cord just waiting for a specific protein to go by. That protein is released when a nerve cell is damaged.

Once the brain receives the signal of pain, the healing process is triggered. After seven days, when the healing process is well on its way, an interference protein is released. This chemical messenger knocks the signaling protein out of its receptor site. The result is a decrease in pain and the system is restored back to normal.

Future research will focus on finding out how the interference chemical works. We may be able to use that substance to make a drug to turn off the pain signals. Right now we have ways to override the signal such as certain medications or transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS). We don’t know yet how to turn off the signals.