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.

Imagine this…

You get out of bed in the morning. You’re groggy and definitely not awake yet. And, you stub your toe, hard, on the bed frame.

You have immediate pain (and maybe a few choice words 🤬) and limp around for a bit. After a few minutes, the pain has mostly gone away and you carry on with your day.

So, what happened here that resulted in pain?

Read on to find out more…

What I tend to see for many of the patients I work with is this…

• Pain decreases + movement improves = increased confidence

• With increased confidence, folks jump back into activity (the intensity of activity varies greatly from person to person) and they’re hit with pain 💥 again and this often leads to frustration and fear

• When we talk about what they were expecting of their healing journey, folks indicate they expected a straight line from start to painfree activity. So, it makes sense that a set-back feels devastating.

The reality is, just like working toward any goal in life, the healing process is not linear and there will be ups and downs along the way.

Embracing the challenge as you work toward your goals. -Bre Crawford, Physical Therapist + Life and Well-being Coach in Bend, Oregon