Understanding Your Pain
Let’s start with the basics, what is pain exactly? Pain is our brain’s interpretation of being in danger, whether real or imaginary danger. Either way, the pain felt is still very real. You may be asking, how does our brain determine the level of risk we are in? That’s a great question; our brain takes in input messages from nerves all over the body. Some of these nerves respond to temperature – hot and cold, mechanical – pressure, chemical – allergens, etc. Understanding your pain is the first step in managing your pain.
What are Nerves?
What are nerves? Nerves carry sensory information from the body to the brain or motor (movement) information from the brain to the body. Pain is also influenced by the context of it. For example, a minor cut on the finger of a professional guitarist will lead to more pain than the same minor cut on the finger of a schoolteacher. The reason is that the cut presents a larger threat to the professional guitarist as they rely on and use their fingers more for their job and life. The same injury will cause more pain if it is on the left fingers compared to the right as greater activity is required of the left fingers compared to the right for playing a guitar.
Feeling the Pain
There are designated spots in our brain for each body part known as the homunculus and that plays into what is known as phantom limb pain. Even though the body part is no longer there in someone who has received an amputation, the pain they may feel for that body part is still very real. The part of the brain that is responsible for the body area is still there though. Although surrounding structures in the brain will start to take over that area of the brain since they are receiving more input than the other brain area responsible for the body part that was amputated. This is an example showing that our brains are constantly changing. Millions of synapses link and unlink every second. For perspective, 3 million synapses fit on a pinhead! (Bulter, 2003, p. 40)
Pain from Bones and Joints
Bones and joints are easy to blame for deep movement that is associated with movement. Bones are surrounded by a layer known as the periosteum, which is supersensitive but serves as a protective mechanism. Most joints are synovial joints which means that the joint cavity is surrounded by a lubricating fluid known as synovial fluid. Synovium is the lining around joints that produces synovial fluid, and this membrane contains many nociceptors. Nociceptors are receptors that inform our brain by sending it threat signals. Joints like compression and movement as then those motions help to move synovial fluid around.
Additionally, compression and movement send sensory signals to the brain informing it of what is happening so that the brain can make adjustments as needed to maintain balance, for example. Bones change as time goes by and these changes may happen slowly enough where the brain doesn’t recognize the changes as pain. Even if x-rayed the bones could show major degenerative changes but no pain may be perceived. The reason for no pain despite there being changes visible on X-rays is that the brain continually changed and determined that the bone changes were not significant enough to warrant pain being felt.
The Nervous System
Nerves are another component that may contribute to the sensation of pain. Nerves contain sensors too which are activated by mechanical or chemical stimuli. Similar to bones, nerves change as time goes by. They can either get thinner or thicker depending on the stimulus it has received. For example, at the wrist, if the nerve rubs over and over, the nerve may become thickened. Depending on the rate of change factors into whether the thickened nerve may or may not lead to pain. Similar to how joints like compression, nerves love movement such as in yoga or tai chi.
The central nervous system is susceptible to change just like bones and joints. The central nervous system may start experiencing more pain where the same thing hurts more now, this is known as hyperalgesia. Another change that can occur is that things that didn’t hurt before hurt now, this is known as allodynia.
The Pain Pathways
The path to overcoming first starts with understanding your pain and how pain works. This piece does not cover all the details of pain but is a starting point. After understanding your pain, active coping strategies are more beneficial than passive ones. Active coping strategies include but are not limited to the following: understanding your problem, finding different ways to move still, nudging pain tolerance, staying positive, working towards small goals, having bigger and longer-term goals, and being patient. Being competent and understanding why multiple inputs influence pain can decrease their impact on pain. Remember, hurt does not always mean harm to tissues! But you do need to prepare your body to be able to handle the stressors of the life and activities you want to accomplish.
Find an activity you want to do more often, establish your baseline of said activity, make a plan for progressing, be consistent, and try not to flare up but no need to freak out if you do flare up, lastly, it’s a lifestyle. If you would like some guidance and help with preparing your body, schedule your appointment today.
Work references:
Butler, D. S., Butler, David S, & Moseley, G Lorimer. (2003). Explain pain. Noigroup Publications.