Pain from an injury leads many people to opt for opioids. These medications can be very effective at pain relief, but they come with the risk of addiction or overdose. Researchers from the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biological Sciences are looking into a new, longer lasting and safer way to treat pain.
Your body feels pain when neurons send signals from an injury to the brain. The signals tell the brain where the injury is and how bad it is. The scientists wanted to know how injured tissue alerts the neurons to send the brain the signals. In the process of discovery they found a way to inject injured tissue with special substances that penetrate nerve endings and block the signals.
They say it's away to treat pain right at the source. And the new method offers two huge advantages: the pain relief lasts much longer than what opioids can offer, and it removes risks of opioids, such as addiction or overdose.
This is not available for general use yet, but they're talking to a pharmaceutical company about how to manufacture the process for commercial use.
This research is published in the journal Nature Communications.
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