How do you feel pain?
The
skin detects pain through nociceptors.
Nociceptors are sensory neuron receptors that lie in the tissue sheath that surrounds the muscles of the cutaneous layer. Nociceptors are also located in the cornea and mucosa (mucous membranes lining cavities such as the nostrils, lips, ears, genital area, anus, respiratory system, etc), as well as internal organs such as muscles, joints, the bladder and gut.
The term nociceptors is used to explain pain sensation in animals, because animals cannot distinctly verbalize the feeling of pain and humans cannot establish exactly what an animal feels as pain. Adult humans can report pain with great reliability and thus the term to explain the sensation is “pain receptors”, relating directly to the nerve endings.