Irene Tracey on pain in the brain

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2019

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Pain, as we know, is highly personal. Some can cope with huge amounts, while others reel in agony over a seemingly minor injury. Though you might feel the stab of pain in your stubbed toe or sprained ankle, it is actually processed in the brain. That is where Irene Tracey, Nuffield Professor of Anaesthetic Science at Oxford University, has been focussing her attention. Known as the Queen of Pain, she has spent the past two decades unravelling the complexities of this puzzling sensation. She goes behind the scenes, as it were, of what happens when we feel pain - scanning the brains of her research subjects while subjecting them to a fair amount of burning, prodding and poking. Her work is transforming our understanding, revealing how our emotions influence our experience of pain, how chronic pain develops and even when consciousness is present in the brain. Producer: Beth Eastwood

Transcript

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0:44.0	Pain, as we all know, is highly personal.
0:47.0	Some seem to cope with huge amounts while others real in agony over what might look like a minor injury and although we might feel the sharp
0:54.9	pain in the place it happens a stubbed toe or a burned finger the sensation is
0:59.6	actually processed in the brain that's where my guest today focuses her attention.
1:04.4	Known as the Queen of Pain, Irene Tracy has spent the past two decades
1:09.5	unraveling the complexities of this puzzling sensation.
1:13.0	As Nuffield Professor of Anesthetic Science at Oxford University,
1:17.0	she explores what happens when we feel pain,
1:20.0	looking behind the scenes as it were,
1:22.0	scanning the brains of her research subjects
	...

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