Scientists discover how to 'turn off' pain: Threshold can be raised by altering...

New research has raised the possibility of creating more effective treatments for people who suffer from chronic pain - which could be as simple as encouraging them to take more exercise. Patients can be made more resistant to pain by altering the structure of their brains, scientists believe.

Scientists discovered for the first time that people left in agony by arthritis develop more receptors in the brain that respond to opiate pain relief.

Having extra receptors makes the body more resistant to pain – both by using our bodies’ natural painkillers, endorphins, and through prescribed opiates such as morphine.

The researchers believe that if we can find out how the body increases the number of opiate receptors, we will be able to improve pain relief treatments.

But some people seem to cope better with long-term severe pain, leading scientists to investigate which coping mechanisms were at work.

The University of Manchester team found that the more opiate receptors an individual has, the better able they are to resist pain.

To test the theory, the scientists warmed the skin of patients with a laser to measure how much pain they could withstand.

They then scanned their brains with a PET scanner to count the number of opiate receptors.

Prof Jones said that as well as drug treatments, something as simple as taking exercise could also boost opiate receptors.

‘We know that exercise can activate the natural opiate system in the brain,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘What we don’t know is how it regulates how many opiate receptors we have. Having more exercise might increase the number of opiate receptors.’

Fellow researcher Dr Christopher Brown, from Manchester University, said: ‘As far as we are aware, this is the first time that these changes have been associated with increased resilience to pain and shown to be adaptive

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