Hurt Doesn’t Equal Harm

What is pain?  How does it happen?  What can we do about it?  These are all very important…and very complex questions.  But understanding the answers are vital towards getting your independence back and living your best life! Let’s dig in.  

The first thing to understand is that pain can occur with or without tissue damage.  It is a sensation perceived by the brain, hence why sometimes acute pain can turn into long-lasting chronic pain.  More on this later.

 Simply put, when an injury occurs such as an ankle sprain, specialized danger messages are sent from the injury site to the spinal cord which are then relayed to the brain.  If a certain threshold is met (determined by different types of excitatory chemicals), then the brain perceives those danger messages as pain and begins a cascade of events to start the healing process.

 The problem starts when an acute injury becomes chronic due to, as I like to say, a “hypersensitive alarm system.”  This can occur due to sensitization of the nerves to common movements that normally would not cause pain such as walking, scratching your skin, or laying down.  We are finding that contributing factors to this hypersensitive alarm system can also include: stress, anxiety, depression, expectation of your recovery, and having an active or passive coping style (easing into movement or avoiding it).

 But wait, there’s good news!  Since pain comes from the brain, it can be retrained!  Through principles such as Graded Exposure and Graded Exercise, we can slowly ease you back into activities so that your body adapts to pain-free movement again and your hypersensitive alarm system renormalizes. 

 Since chronic pain is so complex, we will often time work in conjunction with other healthcare providers such as psychologists to maximize your results.  Check out the video below for a visual explanation of chronic pain and how it affects you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_3phB93rvI

And of course, reach out with your specific health questions, and we would be happy to help!

Best Regards,

Dr. James

Citation

The revised International Association for the Study of Pain definition of pain: concepts, challenges, and compromises: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32694387/