Scientists in Queensland, Australia, stuck Band-Aids on 65 volunteers and ripped them off at varying speeds to discover how ouchy they felt. The results: It is, in fact, more painful to rip a Band-Aid off slowly than to give it one quick yank. But, "some other aspects of the results may cause more disputes than they solve: the tests showed that men rated plaster removal as 80 per cent more painful than did women, a finding the authors linked to thicker male body hair." Tell me about it! Also: "The fact that scores were different between groups suggests that removal of dressings may be operator-dependent, and there may be skilled Band-Aid removers and less-skilled or unskilled Band-Aid removers," noted the study's author. Anyway, now you know!
Monday, December 14, 2009
5
Is this the one about the inebriates? Because why else would you volunteer for this study when there's no evidence you're getting paid a dime. I mean, did the researchers even blow on it for you?
Right, and it's not like one hurts and the other doesn't--one just hurts less. I volunteer for the control group that didn't have band-aids applied at all (needed to make sure there wasn't just random, non-band-aid-related pain happening.)
Is there a Brazilian study on this phenomenon?
Whateves. Ice over the Bandaid for 5 minutes 1) kills the pain and 2) loosens the adhesive. Take it from someone who worked in a doctor's office. Also, smacking someone on the head just as you're ripping off the bandaid works too.
Too many people are waxing now for this to still be a question.