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Writer's pictureLeanne Sharp

PAIN! 😖

What is it? Why do we get it?


Pain is very normal and also vital to our overall health! It is an unpleasant experience that actually helps to keep us alive and it does this by alerting us to potential or actual bodily damage. It warns us and give us the opportunity to either change or stop what we doing.


Brain or body?

In 1644 René Descartes (who was a philosopher, scientist and mathematician) published a book called L’Homme that proposed the mind and body were separate and it was the body that produced the pain and then told the brain about it. However, we now know that it is the brain that tells the body when something is painful.

There are various sensors in our tissues that work together all the time and detect temperature, pressure, stress, movement, immunity & blood flow. When you touch something, a message is sent from the tissues, up through the spinal cord and into a specific part of the brain. The brain will then decide whether you are in a dangerous situation and if you need to take any action to avoid injury.

Pain can also be effected by our thoughts and beliefs, our emotions and memories as well as our stress levels so it isn’t just through a sensation from the physical body. There are many people that experience pain which can be triggered by a lack of sleep, mental health complications and stress.



Why does the pain linger?

Pain that is caused by a movement can appear to last for a long time due to the nervous system increasing the sensitivity of these sensors which it does to try and protect you. The issue with this is that sometimes they can become too sensitive that it no longer reflects that state of the tissue. When this happens the body will need to gradually desensitise the sensors to get back to normal.

For example, you bend over & are lifting some weights and get a pain in your lower back. 6 months later you are still getting some pain when you bend over. The nervous system has become sensitive to this specific movement so anytime you do it, you get the pain even if the tissues are back to normal. So to try and desensitise the sensors your therapist will get you doing certain movements. In this example you may be laying on your back and pull your knees to your chest. You are still doing the same movement that would normally bring on the pain but you are doing it in a different context, which will gradually help to reduce the sensation so you can then return to the pre injury state.


Why does pain sometimes feel good??

People sometimes describe a sports massage or deep tissues massage as a good pain. But why?

The action of a massage activates our sensors but because we believe that the massage is doing us good and helping with the problem, our brains release endorphins which reduces the danger signals that will be travelling up the spinal cord.


The body and mind are very much interrelated!

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