If this is true, I don’t understand why chronic pain happens. Shouldn’t our brains adjust to the constant load of pain by creating more receptors to compensate?
I fear this is going to make us look even more like whiners and make more people believe chronic pain “isn’t that bad” because your brain adjusts.
For me, it’s the opposite: the longer a specific pain lasts, the more bothersome it becomes. I don’t “get used to” pain, but instead become increasingly sensitive, almost like I’m becoming “allergic” to the constant pain from one spot.
There’s obviously something wrong in our brains if they allow pain to continue like it does in us. Maybe our brains “don’t know how” to create more receptors, or maybe we don’t produce enough endorphins to fit those additional receptors?
I agree that this is a controversial study. I think perhaps the receptor numbers do increase, but we also know that nerve ending multiply in painful areas of some types of pain, and in others the spinal cord gives preference to pain signals from chronically painful areas, which both make us more sensitive to pain. They didn’t put the research in context. However it does suggest interesting future directions for interventions. Thanks for your comments!
Skillfully Well & Painfully Aware 
If this is true, I don’t understand why chronic pain happens. Shouldn’t our brains adjust to the constant load of pain by creating more receptors to compensate?
I fear this is going to make us look even more like whiners and make more people believe chronic pain “isn’t that bad” because your brain adjusts.
For me, it’s the opposite: the longer a specific pain lasts, the more bothersome it becomes. I don’t “get used to” pain, but instead become increasingly sensitive, almost like I’m becoming “allergic” to the constant pain from one spot.
There’s obviously something wrong in our brains if they allow pain to continue like it does in us. Maybe our brains “don’t know how” to create more receptors, or maybe we don’t produce enough endorphins to fit those additional receptors?
I agree that this is a controversial study. I think perhaps the receptor numbers do increase, but we also know that nerve ending multiply in painful areas of some types of pain, and in others the spinal cord gives preference to pain signals from chronically painful areas, which both make us more sensitive to pain. They didn’t put the research in context. However it does suggest interesting future directions for interventions. Thanks for your comments!