Chapter 1: Dissecting pain
Pain is as we all know, not a pleasant sensation.
As a result of acute pain, we respond by removing ourselves from the cause of pain. This is where pain is good because it protects us from harm or what our brain thinks is a threat. Similar to the fight or flight response, our bodies react to pain as an immediate perceived harm hence moving us or our body parts away from harms' way.
For example, when you pricked yourself on a thorn of a rose, what was your immediate reaction? You most likely pulled your hand away, removing yourself from the pain inflicted by the thorn on the beautiful rose. This is when pain is helpful. To Keep YOU SAFE! Once removed, there is no longer any pain!
However pain can also become not very helpful to our everyday lives. Sometimes, our bodies learn to continue avoiding certain behaviours or movements as the acute pain gradually heals and becomes sub-acute, then chronic, despite the initial source of pain no longer present. This is because our brains receive extra input from the nerve root ends when exposed to a stimuli that was a main cause of trauma or a not very happy incident.
How does that happen you may ask?
Our minds are such amazing Godly creations on this Earth that I am just so grateful for! When there is a problem, our brains miraculously try to solve it.
Now, imagine you are walking in that beautiful rose field. But this time, you are upset because of a major event that has just happened in your life. Mindlessly stroking the petals of the rose, a thorn pricks your finger! Ouch! As you remove your finger hastily away, you lose your balance stepping back, twisting your ankle as you fall down! Thump! OUCH!
18 weeks later, your finger and ankle have healed superficially but you still experience ankle pain whenever you walk on grass.
This could be because of our minds working on overdrive protecting us from what it thinks is harm!
The event in how it happened in Scenario 2 has a lot more happening where you were probably lost thinking about the upsetting issues in your life at the time, coupled with painful experience on a grassy field of roses.
Our ankles and feet have little receptors called nociceptors (they are little radars that send signals to the spinal cord up to the brain).
These nociceptors go through the following in a normal setting:
- Nociceptors receive stimuli (from external surroundings).
- Nociceptors fire signals to spinal cord!
- Signals get transmitted to brain.
- Brain then sends another signal to your muscles (Remember when I spoke about FIGHT or FLIGHT? In this case, the signals go to your muscles according to your processed experiences of memories along with what you should do).
- You RUN or FIGHT or MOVE! Simple.
In a hypersensitive mode with additional stressors during the event that may lead to chronic pain, the cycle is repeated intensively at Step 2, firing extra and unnecessary signals to the brain, signalling extreme pain even with no stimuli being present.
- Nociceptors receive ONE stimuli (from external surroundings).
- Nociceptors fire continuous signals to spinal cord!
- Multiple signals get transmitted to brain.
- Brain then sends another signal to your muscles.
- You RUN or AVOID doing the thing for FEAR of PAIN!
- Your brain goes into FEAR AVOIDANCE MODE.
What is FEAR AVOIDANCE?
Fear avoidance in this concept is termed as avoiding a certain movement for fear that the movement will cause pain.
How does this relate you may ask?
Well, with FEAR AVOIDANCE, for example your muscles that stabilise your ankles go into hibernation and become weaker and weaker.
As a result, any small twist or bend (when navigating uneven surfaces such as grass) will feel painful due to increased instability from the weaker stabilising muscles!
Most important question is HOW can we improve this situation?
Well, we need to first remove the environment for the first part of the rehab towards discovering happy in your movement = in this case, it is places with uneven surfaces. Or even better, remove gravity from the equation.
You can achieve all that performing targeted exercises on a Pilates Reformer. I'm not even promoting it for my own clinic but it is just a statement because it really works wonders!
So once gravity and environment is removed, targeted exercises to strengthen weakened muscles along with balance, etc can slowly be incorporated into the routine you will be mesmerised there is no pain!
That is how you can usually overcome chronic pain and continue to move and discover YOUR happy in Movement!
Ok, enough rambling from me today. See you again soon!