V(e) Visual External Tricks That Shrink Pain

Now… How Cool Is That!

In case you experience an injury, then see the injured part with inverted binoculars, soon your pain will seem to be decreasing in its magnitude.

A research at Oxford University has lead to the discovery of a new pain killer – the inverted binoculars. The scientists demonstrated that the subjects who looked at their wounded hands through wrong end of the binoculars, making the hand appear smaller, experienced significantly less pain and decreased swelling. According to the researchers, this demonstrates that even basic bodily sensations such as pain are modulated by what we see. So next time if you stub your toe or cut a finger, do yourself a favor, look away!

The term body image was coined by the great neurologist Henry Head and refers to a mental representation of one’s physical appearance. Constructed by the brain from past experience and present sensations, the body image is a fundamental aspect of both self-awareness and self-identity, and can be disrupted in many conditions.

The study published in Current Biology now shows that visual distortions of the body image in patients suffering from chronic pain can significantly affect their perception of painful sensations.

Ten patients suffering from chronic pain in one arm participated in a study. They were asked to watch their own arms while they performed a standardized repertoire of ten hand movements.These tests were carried out under four different and randomized conditions. In the “clear” condition, the participants looked at their arms through a pair of binoculars with no magnification; in the “magnified” condition, they looked through binoculars with 2x magnification; and in the “minified” condition they looked through inverted binoculars which made their arm appear smaller than it actually was. In the control condition,  they looked at their arms without any visual manipulation. Watching their arm through inverted binoculars led to a reduction in the pain and swelling induced by movement.

It is not clear why this happens, but the findings obviously have major implications for pain management. One explanation put forward is that this simple manipulation caused the subjects to “disown” their hands; the hand feels less like a part of their own body, because it appears to be further away than normal, and so painful stimuli originating from it are reduced.