nice question for medical guru

[curious23]

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I am a graduate (first year) comparative anatomy student here in Australia.

I was trying to figure this out. I am studying male and female comparative
difference. I am trying to study pain perception and this question came to mind.

If a female has the same nerve ending in the genital area but no testicles , do they feel any similar comparative pain as a male ?
for example? let's say both the male and female have similar pain tolerance.

If I kick them in the groin, what would the reaction and why? what nerves are involved? and why is a blow to testes so painful?

Barry

 

[kenmc3]

Well, let’s look at this from a vulnerability perspective. The testis are very vulnerable since they are outside of the body and fairly sensitive. While the sensitive female organs such as the clitoris are fairly protected. I guess the closest analogy I can come up with is the eye. They eye is very sensitive to pain (you would know if you ever scratched it or got some sand in it etc). However, it is protected by the orbit and the eyelid. So if you get punched in the face, the eye may hurt but it is well protected. But let’s say the eye were hanging out of its socket and then you were punched in the face – hitting the sensitive eye at this point would be very painful.

So sure, the A-delta and C sensory neurons that innervate the genitalia are very sensitive but they are more exposed in the male anatomy.

Also, just to comment briefly on pain tolerance. Females typically have a lower pain tolerance than males except for a brief period of time before and after parturition. However, this has little effect on the aforementioned situation.

 

[fun8stuff]

I am a graduate (first year) comparative anatomy student here in Australia.

I was trying to figure this out. I am studying male and female comparative
difference. I am trying to study pain perception and this question came to mind.

If a female has the same nerve ending in the genital area but no testicles , do they feel any similar comparative pain as a male ?
for example? let's say both the male and female have similar pain tolerance.

If I kick them in the groin, what would the reaction and why? what nerves are involved? and why is a blow to testes so painful?

Barry

i thought the ovaries in the female were comparable to the testicles in a man... as in, during development before sex determination... i don't think i worded this correctly, but you get the point...

 

[Ypo.]

Well...I can tell you it hurts like hell when we get kicked in the groin area. Probably not as bad as for guys. It really hurts to get hit in the breast, too. I've never seen a guy wince in pain when someone punched him lightly in the chest.
But we have PMS, too, and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy without giving them a bottle of ibuprofen first. 😀

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

I am a graduate (first year) comparative anatomy student here in Australia.

I was trying to figure this out. I am studying male and female comparative
difference. I am trying to study pain perception and this question came to mind.

If a female has the same nerve ending in the genital area but no testicles , do they feel any similar comparative pain as a male ?
for example? let's say both the male and female have similar pain tolerance.

If I kick them in the groin, what would the reaction and why? what nerves are involved? and why is a blow to testes so painful?

Barry

There is nooooo way it is the same for females. How many girls wear cups?

 

[pikachu]

I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with the fact that the testicles are an internal organ that kind of hangs outside the body. My boyfriend told me that the sensation when you are kicked in the scrotum kind of reverberates through the whole belly as well as the sensation of external pain. Imagine if your stomach hung out of a pouch in your chest, it would probably hurt a lot to be punched in the stomach. So maybe visceral pain fibers are stimulated as well when there is trauma to the testicles?

 

[kenmc3]

I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with the fact that the testicles are an internal organ that kind of hangs outside the body. My boyfriend told me that the sensation when you are kicked in the scrotum kind of reverberates through the whole belly as well as the sensation of external pain. Imagine if your stomach hung out of a pouch in your chest, it would probably hurt a lot to be punched in the stomach. So maybe visceral pain fibers are stimulated as well when there is trauma to the testicles?

There is no representation of the testicles or any visceral organ for that matter on the samatosensory cortex. So it is not uncommon for testicular pain to be referred to the abdomen.