Reading About These Familiar Minor Injuries Is Giving Us All Sympathy Pain

If you're unfamiliar with the term synesthesia, allow me to briefly explain:

"Synesthesia is a phenomenon that occurs when sensory information in one cognitive pathway causes a sensation through another cognitive pathway. Pain synesthesia is a form of synesthesia that causes a person to experience pain when seeing empathetic eliciting stimuli related to pain."

To put it more simply, it's sympathy pain—feeling physical or psychological symptoms of pain or discomfort while witnessing or reading about someone else's pain or discomfort.

I am sure a few ideas spring to mind quite quickly—examples of times when someone was kicked in the crotch or got a gnarly paper cut, and every fiber of your being cringed as if some part of your brain lit up and said, "Me too, I feel that too," despite the fact that you most certainly did not feel that pain yourself. That doesn't necessarily sound like a great way to spend one's time, but we tend to be gluttons for punishment and more curious than cats.

Reddit user lawyeratyourservice turned to the r/AskReddit community to pose one heck of a question: "What minor injury hurts like a MF?" In other words, it hurts more than it ought to.

I'm sure you can already imagine where synesthesia comes into play now, right? Let's go. lawyeratyourservice

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1. Plantar Fasciitis

BoilermkrDH / Listenandlook

As one of the most common causes of heel pain, plantar fasciitis occurs when the thick band of tissue that runs across the bottom of each foot, connecting the heel bone to the toes, becomes inflamed. Science is unsure exactly what causes this condition or why it's so excessively painful, but factors such as your occupation, age, weight, and even hobbies can increase your risk.

2. Getting Hit in the Ankle with Something You're Supposed to Be Having Fun With.

Gregbot3000 / SupressedIdiocy Active

3. Gas Pains

chrs_trnr / SweetSoundsOfSilence tenor

4. Pinching Your Finger in the Door

LurkingAintEazy tenor

5. Hitting Your Shin Bone... on Anything

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6. That Specific Ingrown Hair

rfs103181 / photomedic207 tenor

7. The Pinky Toe Pain Is Real

ProfessionalDress476 / BradyToMoss1281 giphy

8. Leg Cramps

PegasoZ102 / jmmorart317

NHS Says:

"A leg cramp is an episode of sudden pain in the muscles of the leg caused by an involuntary contraction (shortening) of the leg muscle. Most leg cramps occur in the calf muscles and, less commonly, in the feet and thighs. Cramps can last from a few seconds up to 10 minutes. Thigh muscle cramps tend to last the longest."giphy

9. Hitting Your Head on the Cabinet Door

R12356 / LIKES_ROCKY_IV

It Always Happens at the Worst Possible Times, Too

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10. Funny Bone

purenergy12 / Babydoll0907

That Not-So-Funny, Funny Bone

The ulnar nerve is located near the ulnar bone, but most people are unfamiliar with the term. It's so easy and common to injure because this nerve is the largest in the human body, unprotected by muscle or bone!

If you hit this nerve while your elbow is flexed, you will experience an electric shock-like sensation.

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11. Heartburn

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12. Hangnail

ZealousidealAd5679 / Mo0nPilot yarn

13. Clipping Your Nail Too Short

IdiotWithoutAName / Significant-Sun-3380 tenor

14. The Smallest Shards of Glass in the Worst Places

ThatOneGayMedic / unbridledboredom giphy

15. When Nobody Laughs at Your Joke

Ordinary-Freedom7193 / __M-E-O-W__ giphy

16. Biting Your Tongue, Lip, or Cheek

Keithninety / 328944 / TheSwissMachine tenor

I'm definitely not chewing on my cheek because I bit it a week ago as we speak. Definitely not.

Anyway, that was way too much synesthesia for some of us, but not quite enough for others. Everyone enjoys passing the time in different ways. Were you surprised that a paper cut didn't make the top 16 upvoted comments (because I was)?

What are your thoughts about things that shouldn't cause pain but definitely do? Let us know what's on your mind in the comment section.