Pain Science 201

Hi there! 👋

In my last post, we talked about pain science 101 (head here for a refresher!). 

As a brief recap, here’s the TLDR version…

• We have 45 miles of nerves/sensors throughout our body

• They all have a bit of electricity coursing through them

• When there’s a strong enough input, the activity of the nerve increases sending a danger signal to our brain

• We respond to the danger signal

• Our injury heals and our nerve activity decreases to baseline levels

You might be thinking…

But what’s happening when my pain is still here and it’s intense?

Welcome to Pain Science 201 - Persistent Pain.

Sometimes when we heal from an injury, our nerves remain sensitive, continuing to fire at a higher level than they were prior to injury. What happens in this case is that it takes less input into our system to have our nerves activated and generate a danger signal.

Some things that can impact the sensitivity of our nerves include stress, fear of another injury, fear of continued injury, fear of not being able to do the things you want or need to do, how you’ve healed from a previous injury, how you’ve seen other’s heal from a similar injury, job issues, financial concerns, poor sleep, etc.

Practically speaking, an activity that once used to feel easy (doing the dishes, going for a walk, sitting for work) now results in pain. That’s a serious bummer and has a huge impact on your quality life!

The good news is, we can have a positive influence on our pain experience, decreasing the sensitivity of our nerves and nervous system, through things like…

• Mindfulness practices

• Deep breathing

• Sleep hygiene 

• Activity pacing

• Graded exposure to activity

• Movement practices

Some easy to remember phrases that can help…

• Motion is Lotion - our joints and tissues LOVE movement*

• Sore but Safe - soreness does not always equate to injury*

• Hurt not Harm - just because there’s pain doesn’t mean there’s injury*

*note - this are typically appropriate in the context of long standing pain and are not intended as general medical advice

I’d love to know what questions this brought up.

So, send those Q’s my way!

Chat soon,

Bre

References

1. Louw A. Pain Neuroscience Education. Presented: Therapeutic Neuroscience Education at Evidence In Motion; January 2020. Online.

2. Louw, A. Pain Neuroscience Education: Teaching People About Pain 2nd ed. Minneapolis, MN: OPTP; 2018.