Do Broken Bones Really Hurt?

[atyy]

I don't know if there are nerves on bones.

Pain almost always comes from stimulating specialized sensory neurons in the peripheral nervous system called nociceptors. It is difficult, but not impossible, to have pain arising from brain activity without nociceptor activation.

Sara Nencini and Jason J. Ivanusic
The Physiology of Bone Pain. How Much Do We Really Know?
Front Physiol. 2016; 7: 157
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2016.00157

Jason J. Ivanusic
Molecular Mechanisms That Contribute to Bone Marrow Pain
Front Neurol 2017; 8: 458
https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2017.00458

 

[rokytnji]

When I broke my left hip. I was amazed at the pain that controlled me on whether I could exist anymore. Or even lay down anymore.
Took a awhile to learn to walk again. Let alone hold up a motorcycle and ride it.

You learn basic physics like your hip is the base to all other movement functions. Going to the bathroom can be a Indiana Jones type of adventure. Stairs are impossible to use. Even laying down is not comfy cozy without heavy dosage of morphine like drugs.

So from personal experience. Yeah. It hurts.

 

[curiousman]

The bone structure doesn't contain neurotransmitters itself but the body tissues near the fracture site. Soft tissue refer to the muscles, ligaments, nerves, tendons and blood vessels, joint cartilage, etc. that surround the bone. The level of pain would depend upon where the fracture is located, how the fracture bone is anatomically involved on the daily regular movements of the body and what type of fracture has been produced.

Pain killers act over the tissues surrounding the bone, not over the bone.