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PUNISHMENT OF PAIN AND SCIENCE!

2014-08-01 · challenge / punishment · Hank · 3:56 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Explainer · tags: punishment or challenge, community lore

Performing a punishment inspired by a viewer comment, Hank explains the kinds of pain (nociceptive, neuropathic, referred) and how capsaicin tricks pain receptors while inflicting each on himself, concluding that pain, though inelegant, is something to be thankful for.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Punishment set-up: the science of pain while experiencing pain

  • ★★★ Hank says today's video, inspired by a comment on John's video about Hank needing to be punished, explains the science of pain while he experiences pain. (playful) — 00:00:02 · Punishment

00:00:08 — Nociceptive pain: superficial somatic (slap, whip) and deep somatic (muscle burn, anaerobic glycolysis)

  • ★★★ Hank says nociceptive pain is detected by systems designed to detect pain; it is the pain we need, signalling that something bad is happening; there are three kinds. — 00:00:08
  • ★★ Hank says superficial somatic pain is skin-based: skin has many pain receptors because it is the first line of defence, so whip lashes register as separate pains. — 00:00:18
  • ★★ Hank says deep somatic pain comes from burning muscles, strains, sprains or broken bones; it is less specific but can be extremely intense. — 00:00:36
  • ★★ Hank says that in his muscle test anaerobic glycolysis raises his muscles' acidity, which neurons detect and relay to the brain as pain. — 00:00:44

00:00:57 — Visceral pain, neuropathic pain (ulnar nerve, funny bone) and referred pain

  • ★★ Hank says visceral pain, the last type of nociceptive pain, is usually vague and distant but can be very intense (cramps; testicular injuries), and declines to demonstrate it. — 00:00:57
  • ★★ Hank says neuropathic pain occurs when nerves are damaged or malfunction and send pain signals when they shouldn't. — 00:01:09
  • ★★ Hank says the ulnar nerve is one of the only big nerves running close to the skin's surface; whacking it (the funny bone) gives neuropathic pain, which he demonstrates. — 00:01:16
  • ★★ Hank says referred pain is when the nervous system mixes up the source of the pain: there is a stimulus, but it is not received in the right place. — 00:01:30

00:01:44 — How sensory cells work; TRPV1 and capsaicin tricking the pain system (chili pepper)

  • ★★ Hank says all sensory cells work alike: they maintain an ion gradient across the membrane, and surface proteins open channels that equalize it when a specific stimulus occurs. — 00:01:49
  • ★★ Hank says a protein (named with a transposed acronym, see uncertain) opens a channel in response to heat, acidity or abrasion, but by chance also opens in the presence of capsaicin. — 00:02:22
  • ★★★ Hank says capsaicin, the chemical that makes chili peppers hot, is entirely harmless but opens that channel, so the brain detects it as pain; his burning mouth is a biological accident. — 00:02:33

00:02:56 — Why pain matters: an old, inelegant system we should be thankful for

  • ★★ Hank says people born without the ability to sense pain often die before adulthood. — 00:03:02
  • ★★ Hank says the pain system is not well designed: it is an extremely old holdover from evolution that leaves room for things to go wrong, so many people live with hard-to-manage chronic pain. — 00:03:05
  • ★★★ Hank concludes that for most people pain, though inelegant and unpleasant, is something we should be thankful for. — 00:03:18

00:03:25 — Sign-off and outtakes (tongue-tied intro, whip take, Denver the Last Dinosaur)

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description says the most painful part was, oddly, the brain freeze, pushed a few slurpee sips past normal; second the funny bone, then the muscle stress. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • After 'for guys, think of testicular injuries', Hank declines the demonstration. — 00:01:04

    “I'm not going to demonstrate this; it would be dangerous.”

  • Explaining the ulnar nerve, Hank whacks his funny bone on camera, screams, and celebrates his success. — 00:01:19

    “I achieved - goal accomplished!”

  • Recovering from the referred-pain demo with watering eyes, Hank panics that the camera might not have caught it. — 00:01:40

    “Oh good thank God I was recording; I thought I wasn't recording for a second.”

  • Mouth burning from a chili pepper, Hank explains that capsaicin does no actual damage. — 00:02:47

    “It is purely a biological accident, and my body does not believe it!”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: nociception · pain · Punishment

Also: Works: Denver, the Last Dinosaur

Concepts: capsaicin · chronic pain · congenital insensitivity to pain · evolution · neuropathic pain · referred pain · TRPV1 · ulnar nerve

Also centred on pain: On Pain · My Physicalmental Illness · Pain · Tuberculosis and Hank's Shingles

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