Pain ‘all in the head’

A ‘MIND over body’ experiment has shown the brain can suppress pain. Scientists tested a “biofeedback” technique, which allowed volunteers to see the activity of a pain-limiting region in their brain.

In a short while, they were able to exert mental control over the patterns and reduce feelings of pain.

Similar biofeedback methods have been used to treat epilepsy and behaviour problems, but it has never before been used to prevent pain in humans.