How Sensory Neurons Transmit Pain Signals from a Sprained Ankle

What transmits signals from a sprained ankle to the central nervous system?

Final answer:

You feel pain in a sprained ankle when sensory neurons transmit signals from the ankle to the central nervous system.

Explanation:

You feel the pain of a sprained ankle when sensory neurons relay messages from your ankle to your central nervous system. The sensory neurons form part of the sensory-somatic nervous system and are crucial for transmitting information about pain, heat, cold, and other sensations from your skin, muscles, and sensory organs to the central nervous system.

Sensory neurons convey information from the peripheral nervous system to the central nervous system. An easy way to remember this is to think of the sensory neurons as 'arriving' at the central nervous system, while motor neurons are 'exiting' the central nervous system.

The central nervous system (CNS), which is comprised of the brain and spinal cord, then orchestrates appropriate responses depending on the information it receives. Once the CNS receives this pain signal, it can trigger a motor response, activating motor neurons to initiate a protective reflex action like moving away from a source of pain. In the case of the sprained ankle, the pain signal transmitted via sensory neurons prompts us to limit movement of the injured ankle.