New Study Says Swearing and Giving the Finger Helps Relieve Pain

Yes, you read that correctly and I guess I’m doing things right!

Can I get an RX for this?

“Sorry I cussed you out and flipped you the bird, however, I have chronic pain and my doctor prescribed it!”

I have a potty mouth, not in a typical casual talking way. But when my pain amps up or something goes wrong those words will just fly out of my mouth before I have even realized what I’ve said.

There is new research that says that cussing and obscene gestures can help reduce pain.

The study took place with 111 students from Kalamazoo College in Michigan. The majority of the group were women and the age averaged at 19.

I’m older and have CRPS, so of course my level of obscenity allowed is higher right?

In the study, they used a method of inducing pain called cold pressor task. Cold pressor task is when you submerge a person’s hand in ice-cold water for as long as they can stand it.

While the person is in pain from the ice-cold water they would measure what effect language and gestures had. This would be words and gestures that were not offensive versus those that are offensive.

For instance they would be told to say “fuck” or “flat” repeatedly as they tried to take the pain. Same with the gestures, they would either show their middle finger, or stick up their index finger.

We found that engaging in a taboo act […] enabled participants to withstand the pain in a cold pressor task for significantly longer than engaging in a neutral act,

Authors of the studt wrote.

Good versus bad, and the bad wins!

They concluded that cussing and offensive gestures seemed to produce an analgesic effect, although they’re not sure why that is. I can agree with this from my own life circumstances.

You can read the study in full here. What do you think?