What makes palms different?

May 12, 2009 4:50 PM

Why doesn't Ben Gay (or similar products) affect my fingers / palms?

My hands are not calloused, if that matters. Aren't hands *more* sensitive?

posted by Morrigan to health & fitness (2 comments total)

Well, there are lots of kinds of nerve endings. Ben Gay is going to be acting on the pain-sensing ones and spoofing the cold-detecting ones, but those aren't necessarily the same as the ones that sense deep pressure, stretch, light touch, and so forth. I would guess (IANAMicroanatomist) that hands are mostly enriched in the light-touch ones, maybe the pressure ones too. Pain ones, probably not—no motive for it in fitness-to-survive (unlike, say, the abundant pain sensors in testicles).

Also, even without calluses, I'm betting your hand skin naturally grows thicker than your chest skin or your eyelids or whatever.
posted by eritain at 5:08 PM on May 12

Fingertips are more sensitive, but really our hands are made for groping and exploring, and as eritain says, a difference in purpose is a big difference indeed.

I can't speak to the actual physiological differences, but think of it this way -- there's a reason you test the heat of a baby's bottle on your inner arm instead of trusting what your hands tell you.
posted by hermitosis at 7:47 PM on May 12