# Elbow Skin **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479 "2006-12-09T16:25:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/41 "2006-12-10T13:10:57Z")
Again with the smiley 😃 (I like that one.) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/42 "2006-12-10T16:04:36Z")
Well I just want to say I have been called a lot of things in my life, but, insensitive? ☹ Unfeeling? ☹ Toughskinned? ☹ I just don’t feel I deserve this kind of treatment. :mad: I swear you are getting on my last nerve, if one more person grabs me and pinches me I cannot be responsible for me actions. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/43 "2006-12-10T16:40:07Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] :d You didn’t think I was serious did you? [/QUOTE] You didn’t think \*I \* was did you? I was but I’m damned if i’m gonna admit it ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/44 "2006-12-10T19:36:20Z")
No pain here, at the elbow or scrotum. In fact, I usually scratch my scrotum by pinching and rolling my fingers. How else are you supposed to scratch it without squishing the testes? Same for penis skin. I note that places where I seem to pinch fat with the skin (such as the abdomen and knees) are only a little more discomforting, while more muscular areas (the forearms and biceps) hurt significantly. So I’ll also guess that it has to do with what’s under the skin. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/45 "2006-12-10T22:54:50Z")
Another painless pincher here (though I’m scrotum-free so can’t speak to that area) but when I use nails it hurts a bit. I did take a small pair of scissors out of my desk and just touched the tip of one blade to the skin and there was the promise of pain if I continued. (so I didn’t). I suspect the body long ago decided that bits of you that have to deal with pressure will not be sensitive to pressure else every time you leaned on something with the elbow or bottom-of-forearm skin you’d bruise/hurt. They’ll still hurt when cut because cutting’s not good for you but leaning or pressing on certain bits isn’t likely to forewarn of serious injury to come so I guess the body decided no pain sentinel is necessary for those uses. I suppose if some people still have the pain sensors there’s an explanation but I’m guessing even they don’t bruise every time they lean on something. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/46 "2006-12-10T23:38:43Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Grab a hold of the skin on the outside of your elbow. Tug,squeeze, pinch, twist it as hard as you can. You won’t feel a thing. Why? [/QUOTE] Very interesting. I just tried this - I only felt pain if I pinched with my fingernails. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/47 "2006-12-11T01:12:04Z")
One more vote for being able to pinch both elbow and scrotum skin without pain. Although the scrotum skin analysis is based on prior experience. I just couldn’t bring myself to say that I’d pinched my scrotum to fight ignorance. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/48 "2006-12-11T01:20:51Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] :rolleyes: Again, _not in my experience_. The patients I’ve tested have reported sensation to filament pinprick and pressure testing there, unless they are far gone into a neuropathy. And the person asserting a claim needs to back it up with evidence. The OP asserts it is true that no matter how hard you pinch, tug, squeeze, or twist the elbow skin, one doesn’t feel a thing. But he provides no evidence for this claim. Elbow skin tends to be thicker that some skin elsewhere, but not much. The same applies to the anterior of the knee. I’ve not noticed lack of pain sensation there, either. Now, there are areas in the body where there are _more_ receptors for pressure, temperature, etc. (such as the fingertips, face, tongue, genitals, lips) but I know of no research showing that the elbows are not supplied with normal amounts of sensory nerve fibers for a flexor-extensor surface. The sensory homunculus model shows that the elbows are as well enervated with sensory nerve fibers as most of the rest of the body not devoted specifically to tactile exploration: [http://gc.sfc.keio.ac.jp/class/2004\_14453/slides/09/img/64.png](http://gc.sfc.keio.ac.jp/class/2004_14453/slides/09/img/64.png) Here’s another sensorium-mapping graphic (on the right) showing relative amounts of sensory nerve fibers devoted to various body parts: [http://faculty.etsu.edu/currie/images/homunculus1.JPG](http://faculty.etsu.edu/currie/images/homunculus1.JPG) [/QUOTE] This is weird. I know that it doesn’t hurt when you pinch your elbow, and everybody I know knows this. But are you telling me medical science doesn’t recognize this? And are you saying that there is no difference between the concentration of nerves of various types in the elbow on the one hand and the concentration over the rest of my arm? This is freakin’ me out. -Kris ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/49 "2006-12-11T01:40:39Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] As **cc** says in post 20, if you grab an amount of elbow skin and pinch you won’t feel any pain but just pinch a teensy bit with your nails and you will. [/QUOTE] Ah, that explains it. I pinched with my nails. My nails are really too long to _not_ pinch with my nails. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/50 "2006-12-11T02:49:58Z")
I feel some pain there, but I think it’s not so much that there are fewer nerves or receptors there as that skin on joints less frequently covered by clothing becomes tougher. The skin on my knees and elbows is significantly less sensitive than that on my shoulders or toes. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/51 "2006-12-11T05:38:22Z")
For completeness’ sake can somebody pinch their scrotum with their elbow and tell us if it hurts? ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/52 "2006-12-11T07:13:49Z")
Yeah, when I extend my arm and pinch the elbow skin, it’s nothing compared to pinching up or down the arm. Another data point. I can’t believe you medical types don’t feel this. I don’t mean pinching the hell out of it, but there is definitely a difference. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/53 "2006-12-11T07:45:36Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] This certainly has not been my personal experience, nor my professional experience, having treated many, many elbow injuries, infections, and disease processes which manifest in that location. Do you have a cite for people not feeling things at the elbow? [/QUOTE] I don’t think a cite is neccessary or required as quite a few posters have reported no pain when elbow **skin** pinching. Indeed some have said that no pain is felt when pinching the scrote, I have to admit I’m not one of them. So **Qadgop** can you tell us all why the absence of pain ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/54 "2006-12-11T07:55:32Z")
I can feel a pinch but it doesn’t hurt. That only goes for a small area though. I can verify that a cockatoo bite just above the area hurts like hell! ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/55 "2006-12-11T09:11:25Z")
Where’s the science? Pinching your own elbow skin in order to measure pain sensitivity is hardly a scientific approach to a medical study. For the purpose of fighting biological ignorance, I’ve crafted the following double blind study that will definitively put to rest the question of variable pain sensitivity v. human epidermal loci. Subjects (2): 1920s Style “Death Ray” and chowder: Each taking turns as “tester” and “testee”. Pain Response: The testee will respond to painful stimuli by the vocalization, “oh”. Response Quantification: Soundwave amplitude and frequency measured using a sophisticated decibilometer. Pain Scale: Minimal Pain Response = “oh”; Maximum Pain Response = “OOOH” “OOOOH” “OOOOH”. Morphological Comparison Sites: 1) Skin of Elbow vs. Skin of Forearm 2) Skin of Scrotum vs. Skin of Penis. Stimuli Types: The following manual forces will be applied on testee by tester: Pinch, Pull, Rub, Twist, [del]stroke[/del]. Implementation: Subjects enter room, disrobe and face each other. Reduce ambient stimuli and calm subjects by dimming room lights and giving subjects a CNS depressant (i.e. copious amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). Death Ray (as the first tester), places blindfold on chowder, engages the decibolometer and proceeds to apply the various manual stimuli on chowders testable body parts. Take measurements and jot down in a little black book. Tester and testee switch positions and new measurements are taken. Upon study completion, subjects may be given a cigarette and encouraged to exchange phone numbers. Post results on the SDMB. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/56 "2006-12-11T10:37:03Z")
Nah. No blinding. Subjects awareness of expected responses and locus of stimulation invalidate experiment. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/57 "2006-12-11T10:59:03Z")
“So Qadgop can you tell us all why the absence of pain?” IANOD. (I am not our doctor ; but, uh…) Duh. It’s called nerve endings. There aren’t very many in your elbow. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/58 "2006-12-11T11:03:32Z")
[QUOTE=Eleusis] “So Qadgop can you tell us all why the absence of pain?” IANOD. (I am not our doctor ; but, uh…) Duh. It’s called nerve endings. There aren’t very many in your elbow. [/QUOTE] However, I have found through numerous scientific studies that one CAN, actually through mere will alone, FEEL UP A GIRL WITH NOTHING BUT AN ELBOW. I know it’s scientifically out there, but I can assure you, it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/59 "2006-12-11T11:25:29Z")
Results of test proposed by **Dr.PoopiePants.** Tester: Pinches/pulls/rubs/twists Testees elbow skin Testee: Shrugs Tester: Pinchers / pulls/rubs/twists Testees forearm Testee: Makes mild sound of annoyance Tester: Pinches/pulls/rubs/twists Testees scrotum Testee: Says “Do that again pal and you’re a dead 'un.” Tester: Pinches/pulls/rubs/twists Testees penis skin Testee: Smacks tester in chops and then screams in agony ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479/60 "2006-12-11T11:30:49Z")
[QUOTE=Eleusis] However, I have found through numerous scientific studies that one CAN, actually through mere will alone, FEEL UP A GIRL WITH NOTHING BUT AN ELBOW. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure Channel 5 had a documentary called _The Girl Who Had Nothing But An Elbow_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elbow-skin/383479.md?page=4)