controlling pain and bleeding

[gib65]

I suppose this question goes in this section. If not, please move it.

 

On more than one occasion, I've seen preformers poking pins in themselves without appearant pain or bleeding. In fact, they poke pins through themselves. That is, they stick needles into their forearms and it comes out the other side. Then, they stick needles into their cheeks and pierce it all the way through the other cheek. They'll do this to their tongues, ears, and any other flab of skin that isn't obstructed by bone. They do this show absolutely no signs of pain or hesitation. They don't even bleed! One performer, when asked how he does it, said that he "controls his perceptions" - I assume he means he controls the pain. Appearantly, he's going beyond that and controlling the flow of blood.

 

My question: is there a scientific explanation for how this is done - for the appearant lack of pain, and for the lack of bleeding?

[Bluenoise]

I'm just guessing but likely there already have a hole there from previous piercings that is already healed.

 

Think about it. If these people have already peirced themselves to such a degree that the pain no long bothers them they're probably so full of holes that they don't even need to open up new wounds.

 

I'm not sure this would apply to surface piercings but it would to cheeks and tonges etc...

 

Also if the hole is small enough it wont bleed much in the first place.

 

Personally I don't bleed much from anything. It's a little wierd actually...

[gib65]

I'm just guessing but likely there already have a hole there from previous piercings that is already healed.

 

Good point

[Glider]

I have seen the same things. They do bleed, some not so much, some profusely. However, as to the pain thing, the relationship between a noxious stimulus (e.g. tissue damage) and the experience of pain is correlational, not causal.

 

If the noxious stimulus (NS) - pain relationship was causal, then NS would always precede pain and pain would not happen without NS. In reality, whilst NS will generally result in pain, neither of these is true as there are exceptions.

 

There are a number of documented examples of significant tissue trauma being inflicted without any apparent pain. For example, the Indian hook swinging ceremony, or surgery without anaesthetic (the patient uses self-hypnosis). There are also a large number of documented cases of pain occurring in the complete absence of any noxious stimulus (e.g. some chronic pain syndromes, phantom limb pain, pain experienced during hallucinations and so-on).

 

Moreover, pain is a psychological state, not a physiological condition. As such, it is subject to psychological interventuion and manipulation.

 

The experience of pain seems to depend more upon the interpretation of incoming nociceptive volleys in the limbic brain. These volleys can be reinterpreted so that activity in the nociceptive pathways does not result in the experience of pain.

 

The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) acknowledge this in their definition of pain in which they state that "Activity induced in the nociceptor and nociceptive pathways by a noxious stimulus is not pain, which is always a psychological state, even though we may well appreciate that pain most often has a proximate physical cause.".

[Edtharan]

If the noxious stimulus (NS) - pain relationship was causal, then NS would always precede pain and pain would not happen without NS. In reality, whilst NS will generally result in pain, neither of these is true as there are exceptions.

I will confirm this. I suffered an injury around 6 years ago and I have a chronic pain condition (more than that as the injury has caused damage to my shoulder which results in frequent re0injury).

 

One thing I have learnt about pain is that it is not the same as injury (a noxious stimulus). For us to experience "pain" we have to be aware of the triggering event, or in chronic pain cases, the original injury can be enough.

 

I have learnt to control my level of pain somewhat by diverting my attention away from the stimulus that caused the pain (my shoulder keeps dislocating).

[YT2095]

I'm just guessing but likely there already have a hole there from previous piercings that is already healed.

 

not always no, I can do the things (and have done) that the OP mentioned, I can push a sewing needle trough the skin on my forearm tie string to it and swing a brick attatched to the other end.

remove the needle and have no blood or pain or tearing of the flesh.

there`s no pre existing hole.

it`s not a "Trick" either, it`s 100% perfectly genuine.

 

I have no idea how it works either:confused:

 

I also have Chronic pain conditions that I cannot disconnect, and at best can only reduce by thought/concentration alone.

 

 

my personal thinking about this is that, the areas punctured don`t have many nerves to service them nor blood vessels, and we`re also Much tougher than we think we are, flesh doesn`t rip/tear THAT easily.

[gib65]

not always no, I can do the things (and have done) that the OP mentioned, I can push a sewing needle trough the skin on my forearm tie string to it and swing a brick attatched to the other end.

remove the needle and have no blood or pain or tearing of the flesh.

there`s no pre existing hole.

it`s not a "Trick" either, it`s 100% perfectly genuine.

 

I have no idea how it works either:confused:

 

I also have Chronic pain conditions that I cannot disconnect, and at best can only reduce by thought/concentration alone.

 

 

my personal thinking about this is that, the areas punctured don`t have many nerves to service them nor blood vessels, and we`re also Much tougher than we think we are, flesh doesn`t rip/tear THAT easily.

 

So it doesn't require any "mind control" techniques? It's something that anyone can do if they tried?

[fredrik]

What about the mechanical mechanical pressure on local tissue as a likely regulating factor of local blood flow? I think I watched that once or twice and from what I recall they seem to work some pressure or slow technique. Putting high mechanical strain and pressure on the skin, as opposed to what happens if you get an instant stab? Maybe if you can stop the initiation of bleeding by keeping the tissure under pressure while withdrawing a needle, the surface tension of the blood may possibly reduce the external bleeding?

 

Just my clueless guess.

 

/Fredrik