“Perhaps when we get hurt, we should not only “Ëœrub it better’ but also cross our arms,” said Dr. Giandomenico Iannetti, the lead author of a study at the University College London.
The study, published in the journal PAIN, details how scientists used a laser to generate a four millisecond pin prick of “pure pain” ““ which is pain without touch ““ on the hands of a small group of eight participants, which was repeated with the arms crossed over the midline ““ an imaginary line running vertically down the center of the body, The Telegraph reports.
Rating their perception of the intensity of the pain and the electrical brain responses showed that the perception of pain by participants was weaker when the arms were crossed. The effect is said to be “small but significant” and equivalent to a reduction in pain of around three percent, the study claims.
Dr. Iannetti believes that the effect was caused by the brain being confused. “In everyday life you mostly use your left hand to touch things on the left side of the world, and your right hand for the right side of the world ““ for example when picking up a glass of water on your right side you generally use your right hand.
“This means that the areas of the brain that contain the map of the right body and the map of right external space are usually activated together, leading to highly effective processing of sensory stimuli.”
“When you cross your arms these maps are not activated together anymore, leading to less effective brain processing of sensory stimuli, including pain, being perceived as weaker.”
This new discovery, according to the researchers, could lead to new innovative clinical therapies to reduce pain that exploit the brain’s way of representing the body.
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