by 
The Curious Bag
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When the skin senses a burn, it is important for the body to react quickly to avoid serious tissue damage. This involves a nerve pathway called a reflex arc. Surprisingly, the brain is not immediately involved.
Flexion Reflex Pathway
According to the National Institutes of Health, the reflex pathway that mediates the withdrawal of a limb from a painful stimulus, such as a pinprick or the heat of a flame, is called a flexion reflex pathway.
Neurons Involved.
A flexion reflex pathway starts with sensory neurons. The pain signal generated at the skin travels through sensory neurons from the skin to the spinal cord.
Spinal Cord
When the spinal cord receives information from sensory neurons that indicates severe pain, it generates an automatic response to remove the effected area of the body from danger. It does so by sending signals out through the motor neurons that control the necessary muscles to use.
Reflex Arc
The sensory nerve--spinal cord--motor nerve pathway is called a reflex arc and does not require any brain involvement to operate.
Brain Involvement
After the reflex motion is generated, the nerve signal continues up the spinal cord until it reaches the brain. Only then is the pain consciously felt.
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