What Does It Feel Like To Be Shot? - Adelaide West Physio + Pilates

If you get shot, you would expect it to hurt A LOT. Am I right?

However, it isn’t that simple. The variability of how people explain the pain (or lack of pain) from being shot is fascinating.

It gives us more insight into the wonders of the human body, and the biology of the experience of pain.

I found an article with the best title – ’26 Gunshot Survivors Explain Exactly What The Bullet Felt Like’. How can you not read it? You know exactly what you are getting!

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be available any more, but I can give you some highlights.

I think the most interesting thing is the really wide variety of descriptions.

(Beware, some of it is a bit … fruity in the language department).

Getting shot is like a box of chocolates

You never know what you’re going to get.

This is one description:

“I got shot through the thigh with a .45, it burned like a motherf#?@%r. The bullet went through the bone completely and the tendons pulled everything out of place, my leg was about 4 inches shorter than the other. Trying to move it was absolute agony, I was praying to pass out but never did.”

But then compare it to this description:

“Shot in the arm when I was young when I got caught in the middle of a drive by shooting.

You know in the movies where a gun goes off and there’s a sudden look of shock on the victim’s face before he looks at the wound? That’s very accurate.

I did not feel any pain or anything. I heard the gunshot and felt a tight pressure in my arm. I looked and saw the wound and how much blood I was losing, and the next thing I know I’m in the hospital.”

Or this:

“About 4 years ago I was struck by 4 rounds from machine gun fire, one actually skipped off my body armor right into my left bicep. Honestly did not feel pain when I got hit, just this weird wave of feeling hot and wet on my left side. The pain definitely came after once a tourniquet was applied.”

So what does this tell us about pain?

In all 26 examples, they would have had A LOT of danger receptors (nociceptors) singing loud and strong in the tissue that had been injured.

There was much nociception (danger detection). There was much tissue injury.

But the pain experience was different for everyone, from really strong to not much at all.

So what does that tell us?

• Nociception and pain are not the same thing – these are often conflated
• Pain experienced is variable for everyone – you can’t assume how much pain someone has or doesn’t have
• Pain experienced will depend on many more factors than only the degree of tissue injury – otherwise all the pain experiences would have been similar
• It is great to live in a country where there are strict gun laws

We know that if you understand pain, it helps

If pain is a problem for you (not necessarily gun shot wounds(!), but any ongoing, persistent pain) we have a FREE 6 week online pain education course.

This is all about how pain ‘works’ to help you to understand it better.

It gives you freedom, you can approach your treatment or exercise with more confidence. It can directly affect your outcome.

This course contains the same information that we use with our patients that attend the clinic – we use this as an adjunct to treatment.

If you are interested, click here and make sure you check you Junk folder in case the first email ends up there. We hope you enjoy it!

Join Our FREE Online Education Course