Pain: Understanding for empowerment | iNform Health and Fitness ...

One of my previous blogs, ?Pain? It?s all in your head? certainly caused quite a stir. I attribute this mostly to the tabloid-style title I gave it, which may have paled the complexity of our experience of pain. So I thought a little clarification was in order to help broaden our understanding of the physiology?of pain, and also how our perception can influence our experience of pain, here goes.

(advertising) only feeds our society?s often skewed perspective on pain. This does nothing to empower us to change, in fact it intentionally intends to disempower?us.

Pain can be broken into two main categories: Acute and Chronic. There is vastly differing opinion as to what duration of time?qualifies as progressing?pain classification from?acute to chronic, but the explanation that works best for me is ?any pain that extends beyond the predicted duration of healing?. That means, pain that exists without the presence of tissue damage, or beyond the time of tissue healing.

Chronic pain can then be broken down further, into nociceptive and neuropathic pain.The former implying stimulation of nociceptors (which carry the message up to the brain, which is then interpreted as pain). The latter describing a physical damage or malfunction of the nervous system which can be resultant from acute injury to the nervous system?or disease.

Nociceptive pain is what?my clients report of?more commonly, and is the type of pain I was referring to in my previous blog, so that is where I will spend my time here.

Nociceptors are nerves that detect?mechanical, thermal or chemical changes in tissues beyond a?threshold (a perceived potential for damage) and?encode this message and send it up to the brain. It is in our brain that the interpretation of this message occurs and appropriate (or exaggerated) action is taken.

What is interesting is?the role our perception of pain plays in not only experience of pain, but also how our?fear of pain can actually alter the way we function!

In a 2004 review of the literature in ?The Journal of Pain?, the authors concluded that ?catastrophizing? of pain and anxiety and fear?towards pain are associated with?a much poorer adjustment to pain. So how we perceive pain, which is formed throughout our life from our experiences and those were learn from plays a significant role in the severity of the?chronic, nociceptive pain we experience. To put this more simply, we create our perception of?pain, and perception can influence our experience of pain.

Now to how our perception of pain and how that can affect?how we?function.

We know from the literature that individuals whom experience low back pain function differently to those who do not. Specifically, ?healthy? individuals activate their deep core musculature (transversus abdominis and multifidus) prior to arm and leg movements, where as individuals with low back pain tend to lose this preemptive stabilisation. This is why we spend time on the floor teaching you how to activate your deep core, then integrate this into preemptive motor-patterning exercises like leg-loads.

Recent research, in which participants were threatened with the possibility of an electrical shock in the lower back showed that the mere threat of pain was sufficient to induce a delay in deep core activation during simple arm movements. Further, those whom had strong psychological connections to back pain did not resume normal functioning patterns once the threat of pain ceased, whilst the others did.

This is why it is important to question our own perspective on pain and where that has come from.

I stand by my opinion that advertising that implies pain is ?happening to us???and we are the innocent victim of it?is highly irresponsible and incorrect, and only feeds our society?s often skewed perspective on pain. This does nothing to empower us, in fact it intentionally intends to disempower?us.

Pain medication serves a purpose, it may,?as a temporary measure help you get through?your day and it may help ease your mind to be more receptive to?a different perspective on pain, which a health professional may be able to help you with.

But that is the key, medication for chronic pain must be in conjunction with alternate forms of therapy, be it physical or psychological. Medication is not a cure, it only aids reducing symptoms. There is no magic bullet for alleviating chronic pain because our experience of pain is so intimate to ourselves. But a good place to start is recognising our own role in our pain.

Source: http://informhealth.com/pain-understanding-for-empowerment/

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