Nociception

The process by which pain is processed within the body is known as nociception and it can be divided into three stages:

1. Transduction, or detection, of the painful stimulus by specialised sensory nerve endings found throughout the body.
2. Transmission of this information to the brain by specialised nerve pathways.
3. Interpretation of the painful stimuli by the brain – known as perception. It is only at this point that we “feel” pain.

The body also has the ability to regulate its experience of pain by modulation of nociceptive pathway function.