Modeling of skin thermal pain: A preliminary study

Skin thermal pain is one of the most common problems for humans in everyday life. The understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms is still not clear, and modeling of them is very limited. In this paper, a holistic mathematical model for quantifying skin thermal pain sensation is developed. The model is composed of three interconnected parts: peripheral modulation of noxious stimuli, which converts the energy from a noxious thermal stimulus into electrical energy via nerve impulses; transmission, which transports these neural signals from the site of transduction in the skin to the spinal cord and brain; and modulation and perception in the spinal cord and brain. With this model, a direct relationship is built between the level of thermal pain sensation and the character of noxious stimuli.