A member asked:

What causes you to rub a spot on your body after your hurt it?

5 doctors weighed in across 2 answers
Dr. Heidi Fowler answered

Specializes in Psychiatry

A guess>>: I believe that this may be somewhat of an automatic behavior to see if touching can relieve the pain & possibly an attempt to localize it and check it out.

Answered 4/17/2013

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A theory or two: No one knows for sure, but one theory is that creating additional sensation by rubbing the area interferes with nerve transmission of the pain signal from the same area. Rubbing an injury may also increase circulation to that area, improving the blood supply and therefore healing.

Answered 4/17/2016

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