• Question: why do you get headaches when you have no pain respecters in the brain?

    Asked by to Claire, Ian, Sergey, Vicky, Zena on 18 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Zena Hira

      Zena Hira answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      That’s right brain, cannot feel pain, as it lacks pain receptors. However, this is not what you feel when you are in pain from headache.

      There are plenty of other areas in your head that have receptors which can perceive pain, and they literally cause the headaches.
      Headaches are generally thought to have a neurovascular background, and the responsible pain receptors are associated with blood vessels.
      The coverings of the brain are called meninges and consist of the dura, arachnoid and pia. The dura in particular has a lot of pain receptors and may be responsible for many headaches.
      However, the pathophysiology of migraines and headaches is still poorly understood.

    • Photo: Ian Simpson

      Ian Simpson answered on 25 Jun 2014:

      Great answer from Zena. There are still a lot of unknowns about headaches, but there are indeed no pain receptors in the brain. Headaches are generally thought to be caused by pain sensitive structures around the brain in the following categories :-

      vascular – blood vessels
      muscular – tightening of muscles
      traction – straining like with eye strain
      inflammatory – infection such as the flu

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