Abstract
The gate control theory of pain, published by Melzack and Wall in 1965, proposes that the transmission of nerve impulses from the body to the brain is modulated by a gating mechanism in the spinal cord. This gating mechanism is influenced by the pattern of activity in incoming sensory fibers as well as by nerve impulses that descend from the brain. When the output of the spinal cells exceeds a critical level, it activates brain areas that produce pain.
