The Pain: The Gate Theory Of Pain
The gate theory of pain proposed that the dorsal horns in the spinal cord act like a gate, being capable of modifying somatosensory input before perception and response occur. The altering of input by this neural mechanism is determined by the activity of A-beta, A-delta and C fibres (motor neurons), the whole being under the control of descending impulses from the brain, which act to inhibit the neural mechanism. The loss of sensory input after amputation would decrease the inhibition from the brain and therefore increase the self-sustaining neural activity of the gate, thereby causing