Pain

Pain is real. It’s not something you made up in your mind, but it is produced by the brain 100% of the time.

Pain is an action signal the brain creates after interpreting incoming sensory information and making a decision about the safety of the body’s internal environment, external environment, and current motor behavior.

Pain provides a protective buffer. The size of the protective buffer varies depending on what the brain determines needs protecting. The body sends danger messages that impact the size of the buffer. The brain’s interpretation of what those danger messages mean is hugely important - the meaning of the danger messages are more important than the danger messages themselves. Your tissues are safer than they feel. The inability of the brain to make accurate predictions about the signals it receives can lead to chronic pain.

The brain learns pain so well that what you’re able to do pain-free continually diminishes. Your options are either to: (1) avoid the pain and decrease the activities you’re able to partake in; (2) push through the pain (that’s been my approach until recently); or (3) retrain the overprotective system that has learned to protect pain (this is my current approach).

In an overprotective system, the risk of inactivity is much greater than the risk of activity. The goal is to retrain your system to more accurately interpret the signals it receives regarding potential danger. As world renowned pain science expert Lorimer Moseley says, “motion is lotion. Even imagining motion helps.” Movement is absolutely essential for managing, reducing, and avoiding pain.

In an overprotective system, movement is safe even when it is painful. Avoiding movement is not. Activity (done by an individual) gradually suppresses the pain system through various mechanisms, whereas passive treatments (where someone is doing treatment to you) doesn’t. Active stuff protects you against many other problems that are at increased risk when you have chronic pain. Passive doesn’t.

Learning how the brain is involved in my pain experience has truly changed my life - and learning how to take advantage of that information to address my pain is allowing me to feel more empowered and in control of my pain than I have in 30+ years of chronic pain. That’s a big f*cking deal!

Unfortunately a lot of medical professionals, even “pain specialists” aren’t up-to-speed on pain science. While they may do a decent job of putting temporary band-aids on your pain, making a real and long-term dent in pain requires a more complex and science-based approach.

I firmly believe that anyone experiencing pain, especially chronic pain, would benefit greatly working from with someone well-versed in pain science, such as a Z-Health trainer. My life started to change when I started working Z-Health Neuro Performance Trainer Steve Madama, and I cannot recommend him highly enough.