Super Bodies Behind Super Feats

Everyone's fascinated with great physical feats. But it's rare we get a chance to understand how these things happen.

Discovery Channel premieres a four-part special exploring just that. Starting March 2, "Human Body: Pushing the Limits" will explore uncommon strength and explore the physical and mental science behind it. Real-life accounts from around the world will be used to explain what changes take place to the brain and body under these extreme situations.

For example, a body can withstand three times its weight when walking stairs, six times its weight when running and 12 times its weight when squatting. Or that more than 80 percent of what we know comes through our eyes.

The hour-long episodes explore how our eyes, nerves, brain and bone and muscular structures are prepared and adapt in crisis situations - from being sucked into a tornado to the experience of extreme heat or cold. The show may not make you superhuman, but it may boost your ego knowing what is possible.

Mary Shedden

Facial Pain Nothing To Smile About

Unbearable facial pain likened to a "direct lightning bolt to the face" could be a chronic condition known as trigeminal neuralgia.

Doctors at the University of California San Diego's School of Medicine are exploring the condition and treatments aimed at reducing the pain that leaves some people debilitated.

"It strikes again and again, leaving you stunned and crying," says Cherie Sato, a 54-year-old sufferer of the condition that involves facial nerves entangled with arteries.

Trigeminal neuralgia, or "tic douloureux," is characterized by stabbing, electric shock-like pain in the face. The most common cause is an enlarged artery or vein pressing on the trigeminal nerve at the base of the brain. It can happen at any age, but mostly affects individuals older than 50. In most cases, attacks increase over time and remissions get smaller.

"Trigeminal neuralgia is incredibly frustrating for patients. Everyday environments and activities produce debilitating pain. Patients report that they cannot sit in an air-conditioned room or drink cold water. The lightest touch can trigger an attack, whether it is a kiss from a spouse or a light breeze," says John Alksne, a UCSD neurosurgeon and researcher.

The National Institutes of Health's Neurological Disorders and Stroke program is examining the condition's neurophysiological characteristics, and looking for links between abnormal sensory input and the peripheral nervous system. Other related studies target pain research.

Doctors say initial treatments usually involve anti-convulsants such as carbamazepine and gabapentin. The medicines start at a low dose and gradually increase until the pain is controlled.

Surgery is another option. One of the most effective is microvascular decompression (MVD), which moves a compressing blood vessel away from the trigeminal nerve and holds it in a new location with Teflon felt. If a blood vessel is not causing the pain, other surgical options focus on interrupting the pain by partial damage to trigeminal nerve fibers.

A staff report