Your pain explained(and how to relieve it).

What is pain?

Pain is a sensory and emotional experience produced in the brain in response to actual or potential damage to the body.  It is what we feel when our brain thinks our body is threatened – it is a bunch of neurochemistry created by your nervous system. Pain and injury are related, but NOT the same thing. You can have an “injury” (e.g. muscle tear) but not feel pain, you can feel pain but not be “injured”. Sounds weird but it’s true. Most cases reflects SOME degree of “injury” but that’s usually not the full story.

When do we feel pain?

We feel pain when our brain decides that our body is under threat. This could be when an injury has already occurred or when your body wants to prevent an injury. Yes, the pain can be present before anything “goes wrong” – it is often more of a warning sign than a damage report. Pain is protective.

How do I feel pain?

We have specific receptors in most of our body designed to go off when strongly stimulated. These receptors send signals to our spinal cord. If those signals are strong enough or often enough, or the spinal cord is sensitive enough (more on that later), the signal continues up to the (subconscious) brainstem.

These signals then bounce around through many different areas in the brain (sensory, motor, emotion, motivation, fear, etc) and if the right combination or “pattern” activates (more on that later), we consciously feel “pain”. We then (usually) change our behaviour accordingly to defend ourselves. OR our brain can even choose to suppress pain altogether using “descending modulation”.

Wild, right?

Why do I feel pain?

Pain is a defence mechanism produced by your brain to protect you. It can be used as a warning of danger or as a sign that an injury has occurred.

As we go through life, our brain uses past information to assess future threats. So, over time, we can become more or less sensitive to specific things e.g. if I’ve hurt my back before, I can become more sensitive to things that stress my back without actually damaging anything.

“Once bitten, twice shy”. That is why pain is often not an accurate reflection of injury, especially the longer it persists.

Why won’t it go away?

Your symptoms can sometimes continue even once you’ve healed and/or the stress has been removed. Why? Well, it’s complicated. Persistent pain could be due to an injury that hasn’t healed properly (or that you keep re-injuring), or a disease process that tends to hang around (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis). But not necessarily.

Current evidence shows that a lot of chronic pain is more likely explained by your nervous system becoming “sensitised”. This means that your spinal cord lets more signals through than normal and can even BOOST those signals further. And when those signals reach the brain, the resulting pattern can trigger the pain experience more and more easily – like hearing the first few notes of a song that you recognise.

This is often complicated by the brain attaching more and more things to the pattern. Like fear, anxiety, and mood. These can start to reinforce the pattern, making it more easily triggered, and even more disabling when it is. This is why treating persistent pain can take time – it’s not just the physical stuff you have to deal with. Pain is biological, psychological, and social in varying quantities in different people.

Isn’t there a quick solution?

Most “quick solutions” that provide relief are short-term at best. Which is completely fine if you have a simple, short-term problem. But if your problem is long-term, or more complex, you’re going to need a better plan. That plan may include some of those “quick solutions” but will probably need to be a bit more… comprehensive.

What about surgery?

Surgery is a powerful but expensive (& often painful) form of treatment and should be reserved for carefully selected cases. Most people do not need surgery to get better.

What can I do about my pain?

Quite a lot. First, you need to understand, or at least have an idea of, what your condition is and what might be driving it. Next, you target the main causes if you can.

Is something hurting you? Remove or change it.
Is something weak? Make it strong.
Afraid of something? Work through that fear.
Can’t do something? Practice, practice, rest, practice.

And in the meantime, use whatever short-term treatment you like – medication, hot packs, massage, etc – to keep your symptoms manageable (while minimising side-effects). If Plan A doesn’t work, you re-think it a bit and then go with Plan B, etc.

There is always a way forward – you just need a good plan, trust, and time.

Thank you for reading! If you’d like to ask a question or hear more from a chiropractor, follow me on social media (links at the bottom of the page).