Why does ripping off a band-aid hurt less?

[Rainsford]

I've been thinking about this recently, and was wondering if there is some kind of biology explanation for it. From a physics perspective it makes little sense. There is a certain amount of work you need to do to remove a band-aid, more force requires less time and less force requires more time. But overall the same amount of total work is being done.

I assume that total amount of work is equal to the amount it hurts since the work is breaking the bond between the band-aid and the skin. However, as anyone knows, pulling a band-aid off quickly hurts much less than taking it off slowly, but why? I know it hurts for less time, but since the same total amount of work needs to be done, the pain should be more intense during that shorter time. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Atomicus]

If there was a really hot stove, and you decided to touch it for a few seconds, chances are you'll be in quite a bit of pain. However, if you touched it for a split second, less pain.

In the case of the band-aid, I think the hot stove analogy works in the same way. A stimuli over alonger period of time will affect you more intensely than a stimuli of shorter duration. I guess your brain has more time to recognize and relay the message of pain when you slowly rip the band-aid off

 

[imported_Nail]

When removed slowly, only the weakest bond breaks (your skin). Removed quickly, all bonds break at the same time.

Due to the properties of the adhesive, if pulled off very, very slowly, the pain should be even less.

If there was a really hot stove, and you decided to touch it for a few seconds, chances are you'll be in quite a bit of pain. However, if you touched it for a split second, less pain.

Or because more heat is transferred to your hand.
Now why does a roast left in the oven for an hour get hotter than one left for ten minutes though it can't feel a thing?

 

[MustPost]

Now why does a roast left in the oven for an hour get hotter than one left for ten minutes though it can't feel a thing?

Hahaha

But even when you pull off the bandaid slowly, very little skin actually comes off. If a significant amount of skin came off, wouldn't the pain stay for much much longer than if you pulled off the band-aid quickly. I haven't really noticed that how fast you pull of the band-aid has any effect on how long afterwords the pain lasts.

 

[glugglug]

The pain isn't from skin coming off. It's because the band-aid is pulling your hair. When you pull fast, skin is pulled up with the hair, so the hair isn't pulled as hard.

 

[iTWoRxbRo]

im learning in psychology that theres this theory on some type of gate in your spinal chord (the pain gate control theory). when you feel some kind of pain, the waves must travel through that gate to get to your brain. now if theres too much trying to go through that gate at the same time then it causes a traffic jam type thing which means only a little pain can get through to the brain at a time. that might explain it, look into that.

 

[wacki]

Theory 1001, lol I never thought band aids would get this much and this varied of a discussion/responses in a highly technical forum.


When I worked at a moving company, we used a special packing tape that was super strong. If you grabbed a piece of it with both hands and then tried to slowly pull it apart, it would take great effort to do it. The tape literally could hold about 200 lbs of tension. The stuff was amazing. The ironic thing about it is if you folded itself back onto itself so it looked like:

before:

---------------------------------------------------------------------


after: fold here
_______________{}_____________________________



I you then hold one end in each hand, and then quickly snap the tape, the tape would literally fly apart. It was actually very nice, because I never had to care scissors to cut the tape, I would only snap it. Maybe the Band Aid is exhibiting something similar.

 

[cy7878]

yeah, you overwhelm the nerve.

 

[thereaderrabbit]

My first guess was that the sticky adhesive substance used in band-aids behaves differently when the band-aid is removed quickly. When you pull it off fast the glue acts more like a solid and does not bind as effectively, but when removed slowly, the adhesive remains viscous and sticky.

But the more I think about it- it's probably more to do with the duration of the irritation.

 

[thereaderrabbit]

oh, Wacki's observation most likely has to do with yield strength. If you rapidly apply a load to most materials, they behave in a brittle manner. This is epically true for plastics (like tape) where they are unable to elongate and quickly yield (break).

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: thereaderrabbit
oh, Wacki's observation most likely has to do with yield strength. If you rapidly apply a load to most materials, they behave in a brittle manner. This is epically true for plastics (like tape) where they are unable to elongate and quickly yield (break).

Hmm, never thought about it that way.

 

[biostud]

Easier for the nurse/doctor to just rip it off so they tell a little white lie, which won't do any damage except for the pain.

But I can tell you why rubbing around a place where you've just hurt yourself lessens the pain. When doing so you activate some sensory nerves that send inhibitive signals, which lessen the signal from the pain receptor, and thereby reduces the pain.
link

 

[oldman420]

it hurts just as much you are just prepared for it and your brain prodeces a surge of endorphins or something to ease the pain
it's all up here man "points at head"

 

[Ariste]

Originally posted by: iTWoRxbRo
im learning in psychology that theres this theory on some type of gate in your spinal chord (the pain gate control theory). when you feel some kind of pain, the waves must travel through that gate to get to your brain. now if theres too much trying to go through that gate at the same time then it causes a traffic jam type thing which means only a little pain can get through to the brain at a time. that might explain it, look into that.

This doesn't make sense, because then getting shot by a double-barelled shotgun would hurt just as much as pulling off a band-aid... and ask anyone that's been shot by a double-barelled shotgun (good luck with that one), that's just not the case

 

[MtnMan]

The input/output from your processor is slow, and pain packets are dropped if too many are sent at one time. Pull it off slow and all the pain packets get to the processor.

 

[Shalmanese]

The current theories go something like this:

There are two different type of pain, the sharp, stabbing like pain and the dull, throbbing, aching type. Now, with the sharp pain, once it reaches a certain threshold, theres no point in it ramping up any more because it's already got your attention that something wrong just happened to your body so theres no point in going much higher. It also is the type of pain that your brain can block out relatively easily.

The dull pain is there to tell you that things are still wrong with your body and they can't be ignored nearly so easily. Now, because ripping off a bandaid does relatively little cell damage, your not going to have much of this sort of pain so all that you will experience is the sharp pain which means the quicker you get it over with, the better.

 

[NichowA]

I'm pretty sure that it is a matter of duration. it's the difference between pulling the hair for just a moment (and possibly ripping it out) and pulling on it for a longer period of time. The nerves aren't at like the base of the hair stem, so ripping the hair out doesn't cause pain per se, pulling the skin around it does. In any case, it is definitely because of the hair, because if you shave hair off and apply a band-aid and take it off, it doesn't hurt (I had to do this with electrodes on my chest for a labratory test once). Someone might say in response to the time lapsed thing that sensory adaptation would make my point wrong, but sensory daptation with something like pulling hair takes longer. grab some of your hair and pull on it, and surely enough your senses will adapt eventually and the pain will dull and perhaps een go away. It's like how you generally don't notice feeling the fabric of your clothes against your body--the senses adapt, but it takes awhile. There are many interesting things about the nervous system.

Also, in defense of the person earlier who talked about gates and thresholds, yeah, those exist, but they are on lower levels than pulling hair. Whether you feel pain from something has a lot of variables involved. There is a threshold after which a stimulii will be felt and before which it won't. There are also "gates" that control which stimulii pass to the brain, but the system regulating them in not smple by any means. It involves hormones and other variables (for example, the adrenaline hormone dulls pain tremendously, because during a time in which one's life is in danger, i.e. flight-or-fight response, pain would be a hindrance to survival).

Ok I'm done talking now. heh.

Interesting question, though.

 

[imported_TheOmega]

i would have to agree on duration, and that there is limit on how much pain a hair being pulled of can cause, so pulling of a lot at once will cause as much pain as pulling 1 but in a bigger patch and all at once, so u dont have to feel the individual hairs coming off one at a time.


"getting shot by a double-barelled shotgun would hurt just as much as pulling off a band-aid"

i have a scare down the side of my leg when a nail when ripping through it vertically when i fell, and i can tell u, i didnt feel a thing, it didnt bleed or nothing and i believe its something to do with shock where u body sends something through u blood to stop the pain, dont know exactly, someone on here should know more. so from that little experiance, i think being shot by a shotgun would send ur body into real shock, doubt they would feel anything.



on the subject of pain, can anybody think of a reason for them little cuts u get and u know they have been there a while as the blood has dried or theres blood all over the place, but u only feel the pain once u have noticed it..........................or does this thing only happen to me lol.