Why does rubbing help after you hit yourself?

Why your instinct is to rub a painful area

The moment you hit your shin, elbow or hip on a corner, your first instinct is to rub the area. This reaction is universal, present across all cultures and ages. It feels automatic, almost built-in — and it actually is. Rubbing a painful area is not just comforting: it is a fast and efficient neurological strategy the body uses to reduce the intensity of pain.

Pain and touch signals travel through different nerve fibres, and the brain prioritises certain messages over others. When you rub the area, the nervous system receives new, non-threatening information, and this changes the way the pain signal is processed.

How rubbing reduces pain: the neuroscience explained simply

Pain signals travel through slower, small-diameter nerve fibres. Touch and pressure, on the other hand, travel through larger, faster fibres. When these faster signals reach the spinal cord, they essentially “override” or “block” part of the incoming pain signal — a mechanism known as the gate control theory.

This isn’t psychological; it’s mechanical. The spinal cord acts like a filter, and rubbing provides competing information that reduces how much pain reaches the brain. At the same time, rubbing tells the brain the area is not dangerous, lowering the alarm response and quickly decreasing discomfort.

Why rubbing feels calming and reassuring

Beyond the spinal mechanism, rubbing also changes the emotional tone of the experience. Pain is always influenced by context: stress, fear, surprise, and the feeling of threat can amplify the sensation. Touch, however, is associated with comfort and safety. When you place your hand on a painful area, the brain shifts from “danger” to “soothing”, activating descending pathways that further calm the pain system.

Blood flow also increases slightly, which may help reduce the sharpness of the sensation and accelerate early tissue recovery.

Why physiotherapists use the same principles

This natural behaviour is the foundation of many physiotherapy techniques. Manual therapy, desensitisation strategies, gentle touch, and graded exposure all use the same neurological principles: providing safe sensory input to calm an overprotective nervous system.

Pain is not only about tissues — it is also about how the nervous system interprets signals. Rubbing is the everyday version of pain modulation used clinically.

Conclusion

Rubbing works because your nervous system is designed to prioritise touch signals over pain signals. It’s a simple gesture, but it reflects a deep and sophisticated biological mechanism. Understanding this helps explain why physiotherapy combines movement, touch and education to reduce sensitivity and improve comfort.