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🚪 Gate Control Theory of Pain

Explore how touch signals can close a spinal 'gate' and reduce pain — the neural circuit behind rubbing a stubbed toe and TENS therapy.

Medicine & Biophysics3DModerate60 FPS

The simulator shows a spinal dorsal horn circuit where A-beta touch fibers and A-delta/C-fiber pain afferents both synapse onto a shared inhibitory interneuron and a projection neuron, letting you see in real time how competing excitatory and inhibitory input determines how much pain signal reaches the brain.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Trigger a nociceptive (pain) signal, then add a touch/pressure signal of varying strength and timing to see how it excites the inhibitory interneuron and reduces the projection neuron's output. Try adjusting descending input from the brain to model attention, stress, or a simulated TENS stimulation pattern, and observe how the gate's net position shifts.

💡 Did You Know?

A-beta touch fibers can conduct signals more than 30 times faster than unmyelinated C pain fibers, which is why a fast rub can physically beat a slow pain signal to the spinal gate and help close it before the pain message fully arrives.

⚙ Under the hood

Explore how touch signals can close a spinal 'gate' and reduce pain — the neural circuit behind rubbing a stubbed toe and TENS therapy.

neurosciencepainphysiologyspinal cordnociceptionbiologymedicine

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install