THE RÔLE OF THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM IN THE PRODUCTION OF PAIN

A form of pain originating from deeper structures in the extremities has been thought by Foerster¹ to be conveyed through the periarterial plexuses into the sympathetic chain. He believes that in the upper extremities some of the afferent fibers are sympathetic and in part reach the sympathetic chain through the rami communicantes of the spinal nerves from the arms and partly through the vascular plexus of the subclavian artery and its branches. In either case they reach the sympathetic ganglions and from there travel through the first to the fifth thoracic posterior roots into the spinal cord. In the lower extremity he believes that afferent impulses pass through the rami communicantes of the lumbosacral nerves or by the periarterial network of the tibial, popliteal, femoral and iliac arteries and the aorta, to end directly in the sympathetic ganglionic chain. From there they enter the spinal cord by way of