# a painful ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-painful/479250 "2008-12-30T18:53:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NadaHappyCamper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/278dde/32.png) [@NadaHappyCamper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NadaHappyCamper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-painful/479250/1 "2008-12-30T18:53:19Z")
if one hits their thumb with a hammer and the ambient air temp., is warm, there doesn’t seem to be the same level of pain as there is when the ambient temp., is very cold. why? ``` thank you for your replies. nadahappycamper ``` too old too boogie:( ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-painful/479250/2 "2008-12-30T18:55:15Z")
I’ll just go do some experiments. BRB. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-painful/479250/3 "2008-12-30T20:33:16Z")
What was your control for this experiment? I’ve seen a lot of smitten thumbs, all seasons, and I can’t say I’ve noticed this, but I also admit I have never considered it. I’m just overall more miserable when I am cold. It’s OT but a carpenter did mention to me once (after having beaten his thumb to a pulp with a hammer blow) that he planned to hit it twice more right away because “you always end up hitting it a couple more times before it’s done healing so I’m gonna get them over with early.” ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-painful/479250/4 "2008-12-30T20:56:30Z")
Related matter: why does ordinary contact seem to hurt in cold weather, sometimes? Dry skin? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-painful/479250/5 "2008-12-30T22:16:49Z")
Found this which may go some way to answering the OP; [QUOTE=[http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bio99/bio99966.htm](http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bio99/bio99966.htm)] Mammals respond to cold weather with the hypothalamus releasing thyrotropin releasing factor. This production increases with the severity of the cold weather and the length of the exposure to cold over a long period of time (at least three to four weeks). The thyroid responds by slowly increasing in size and releases thyroxine at higher quantities. Thyroxine increases the sensitivity of the entire nervous system. As a matter of fact, as you probably know, it increases the metabolism wholesale! within the body. This gets complicated so I’m keeping it simple. So, the bottom line is thyroxine. It just heightens our sensitivity not only to cold but our entire nervous system is enhanced. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-painful/479250/6 "2008-12-30T22:19:10Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Related matter: why does ordinary contact seem to hurt in cold weather, sometimes? Dry skin? I think that was the crux of the OP’s question. As anyone who’s played a contact sport in the cold knows, it hurts like hell if you try to tackle someone with freezing hands. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-painful/479250/7 "2008-12-30T22:24:52Z")
WikiAnswers offers this explanation: > [@http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why\_do\_things\_hurt\_more\_when\_it%27s\_cold](#): > > It has to do with the way that your hand (in this case, but, if it was another body part, similiar results would be seen–however, the palm of your hand has ALOT of nerves) is more rigid when it is cold. This makes it LESS flexible, and MORE prone to superficial injury…even without frost nip setting in. In the event that actual frost nip set in, this would be even more sensitive, as you have tiny crystals beginning to form in your cells, like little shards of glass…and, smacking them, rubbing them, or scraping them would be like SMACKING, RUBBING, or SCRAPING your neutral temperature hand against shards of glass. > > When it is cold, your nerves are VERY sensitive to the temperature, as it ISNT numb yet, and still…blood flow is slowed down tremendously. In fact, your body has begun “vaso-constricting” all it’s blood flow AWAY from your hands and feet, then the arms and legs, resulting in nerves being pressed upon by the less suple skin and vascular tissues. > > (think of it like this…your hand swells—you cant get a RING off your finger. SO, you get told to run your hand under cold water—really cold water for about 15 minutes. The ring should slide right off…if not, you may need to run hot water JUST on the metal ring for 1 minute to re-expand the metal. This is because when your hand is cold—it is actually smaller. the only thing that gets bigger when cold is WATER—every thing else gets smaller) Which seems to agree with the above quote; the nerves become more sensitive in colder temperatures. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-painful/479250/8 "2008-12-31T00:40:18Z")
This is interesting, because the premise of the OP is definitely correct in my experience-when I played baseball, getting hit by a pitch in cold weather was far more painful, especially on the hands. However, the exact opposite is true when taken to further extremes- extremely cold body parts are numb to pain. And ever been slapped on the back when sunburned?