All of us experience physical pain, and understandably go to great lengths to avoid it. But pain serves a very real purpose.
Dr. Fernando Cervero,director of the Alan Edwards Center for Research on Pain, joined HuffPost Live host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani to discuss the value of experiencing “protective pain.”
"There is a form of pain which is good and that is the pain that is protective,” said Cervero. “It actually helps us to avoid damage to ourselves, so that part of pain is normal. It’s a normal component of our brains like any other sense."
Cervero also explained that “pain is an experience,” and people respond in different ways to different types of pain. Digital anthropologist Krystal D’Costa joined the conversation to share her own experience with pain and the sometimes unexpected ways it can create human connections.
“Pain is a very social experience,” said D’Costa. “When you have physical pain you put other people in the position of having to provide assistance.”
To hear more of the conversation, watch the full HuffPost Live clip in the video above.