Key messages
- How you understand and cope with pain affects your pain and well as your life.
- The amount of pain you may be experiencing is NOT necessarily related to the severity of your injury or tissue damage
- When to body thinks it’s in danger it produces pain as a protective mechanism. This is a normal response to what your brain perceives as a threat.
- Pain is a multi-factorial beast; the pain experience of the brain relies on many sensory cues.
The process of producing pain
Once the body thinks it is in danger… the acute phase
When the brain takes over in an over-stimulation response …the chronic phase
This information has been adapted from Moseley and Butler's book “Explain Pain”
- Danger sensors are located all over the body.
- When the excitement within a neurone (an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals) reaches the critical level, a message is sent towards the spinal cord.
- When a danger message reaches the spinal cord, it causes release of excitatory chemicals.
- Sensors in the danger messenger neuron are activated by said excitatory chemicals and when the excitement level of the danger messenger neurone reaches the critical level… a danger message is sent to the brain.
- The message is processed through the brain. If the brain decides you are in danger and you need to act, it will produce pain.
- The brain activates several systems that work together to get you out of danger.
Once the body thinks it is in danger… the acute phase
- Tissue damage causes inflammation which directly activates danger sensors and makes neurons more sensitive.
- Inflammation in the short term promotes healing.
- Tissue healing depends on the blood supply and demands of the tissue involved but all tissues can heal…this is where osteopathy can help, working with fluid mechanics and promoting fluid/blood flow into the area
When the brain takes over in an over-stimulation response …the chronic phase
- When pain persists the danger alarm system becomes more sensitive.
- The danger messenger neurone becomes more excitable and manufactures more sensors for excitatory chemicals and brain starts activating neurones that release excitatory chemicals
- The brain adapts to become better at producing the neuro tag for pain (the pain song)
- Danger sensors in the tissues contribute less and less to the danger message arriving at the brain.
This information has been adapted from Moseley and Butler's book “Explain Pain”