How to Feel Less Pain at the Doctor's Office - East Idaho News

How to Feel Less Pain at the Doctor’s Office

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GETTY H 010912 Syringe?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1337275991759Siri Stafford/Photodisc/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Whenever the doctor says “you’ll only feel a pinch” when giving an injection, it may feel more like a punch. Now, you can do yourself a big favor, according to one German researcher, by not watching the needle — because it tends to hurt less that way.

“Throughout our lives, we repeatedly experience that needles cause pain when pricking our skin, but situational expectations, like information given by the clinician prior to an injection, may also influence how viewing needle pricks affects pain,” Marion Höfle explains.

Höfle’s team studied participants watching video clips of hands being pricked by a needle or just hands alone as the participants also received painful or non-painful electrical stimuli applied to their own hands.

The bottom line was they complained of more pain from the electrical stimuli when watching videos of the needle pricks than just seeing clips of hands. So they recommend looking away the next time you go in for a shot.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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