According to the BBC some good folks at the National Institute of Health Sciences in Tokyo have made some progress in establishing the mechanisms behind neuropathic pain.
Two questions.
1) Is this likely to be part of the RSI problem? Sounds likely:
The pain is caused by subtle nerve damage, can often be agonising, and frequently does not improve over time.
2) The mechanism:
The answer may lie in "microglial" cells - which can be found in the spinal cord and behave a little like immune cells.
They appear to congregate at sites where there is damage, perhaps playing some role in the repair process.
The researchers believe that a particular receptor protein on the surface of the cell may be responsible.
Given this -- that these cells may play some role in the repair process -- wouldn't it be foolish to reduce the pain by blocking the protein?
There is now the possibility - that if the same protein exists in humans - that a drug could be developed to block its effect.
Maybe that's why we feel pain to begin with, it's part of the normal process of healing. Just like when something is starting to heal, it may even start to itch. Interesting.
Posted by: Ajlouny | July 23, 2009 at 03:07 AM