Just from the walking style, people are different and so pain perception across individuals. Greatly, pain perception is different in different individuals and much depends on their mood, their condition emotionally and also prior pain-experience. Pain perception maybe very variant even when the pain is triggered by the same physical or emotional stimuli and probably results in some similar magnitude of damage. The Gate Control Theory seeks to explain much about the psychological influence on pain perception and show the complexity of pain perception away from the initial understanding that pain perception is just associated with the pain stimulus’ intensity and the extend of injury to the tissue affected (Mogil, 2015).

Though the gate control theory may not necessarily give the whole picture of the system that centrally underlines pain and pain perception, it has by large visualized the pain perception mechanism in a new and closer perspective and has also give rise to various ways and strategies of managing pain (Wlassoff, 2014). For instance, the Gate Control Theory explains the science behind someone experiencing pain will get some relief from massaging or gently rubbing the painful or injured area. The Gate control theory much provides a psychological basis for the complex pain phenomenon through investigating the nervous system complex structure which is majorly comprised of the central nervous system, which includes the brain and the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system, which include the nerves outside the spinal cord and the brain including the nerves in the lumbar spine region and the branching nerves in the torso and the extremities (Health Psychology Service, 2012).

The gate control theory underlines that pain experience is much dependent on the interplay of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system which are collaboratively responsible for processing pain signals. At any instance of pain or injury, pain signals originated first from the nerves in associate with the pained or damaged tissue, and then the messages flow through the peripheral nerves to the spinal cord then to the brain (Deardorff, 2003).The gate control theory boldly insists that pain signals don’t just reach the brain freely just as soon as they get generated at the injury sites or tissues. They go through a biological pipeline where they come across some neurological gates sited in the spinal code; gates which are pivotal in determining whether the pain signals are permitted to reach the brain or not. This is to mean that the pain from the injury site is perceived in the brain when the neurological gate grants the pain signals some passage and also that pain is less or not at all perceived in the brain if the neurological gates closes and prohibits passage for the pain signals to go through (Michael, Labbé, & Kuczmierczyk, 2013).

In a nutshell, the Gate Control Theory argues that, pain and pain perception is more of a psychological process than the physical damage of tissues that we see. Before reaching the brain, pain signals from the injury point or area encounter neurological nerve gates at the spinal cord level where they get some clearance whether they will reach the brain or not (Knight & Draper, 2008). Whether the pain signals will get clearance to reach the brain or not from the nerve gates is determined by various factors which may include: the pain signals’ intensity, other sensory signals’ intensity, for instance touch, pressure or temperature, at the site of injury, and the message from the brain itself whether to send the pain signals or not. According to the theory, emotions and thoughts highly determine pain perception. Through descending fibers, the brain sends messages that reduce, amplify or stop pain signals transmission through the gate, in reference to thoughts and emotions of the injured person (Brannon, Feist, & Updegraff, 2013).