Understanding Pain: A Complex and Subjective Experience
“It REALLY hurts.”
Pain is a tough subject. It is subjective. Not to say that your pain is not real or to say something does not REALLY hurt. However, pain can be perpetuated, magnified, and catastrophized based on your perspective and attitude towards your pain experience.
My Personal Experience with Pain as a Physical Therapist
I have been very blessed to have only have a few experiences of true injury and pain. However, in September of last year I sustained a crushing injury to my pinky nail bed and distal phalanx (end of the little piggy). PAIN PAIN PAIN. Searing, burning, throbbing PAIN; sensations of an eminent end to my life were perceived- for 5 or so days. My pinky was swollen to the maximum capacity that my finger could contain without exploding. True cellular damage had occurred. Then, the swelling went down.
The Reality of Pain and Healing
But, IT REALLY HURT. Even though I knew the finger was healing in the awestriking manner the body was designed to heal, it still REALLY hurt. I could look at it, and it would hurt. The wind could blow on it, and it would hurt. No matter what happened, it REALLY hurt. Even though I knew the injury was over, despite my knowledge of the body and healing, I failed to restore a normal perception of the sensations I was feeling. So, I became adamant to travel the path of correcting my perception towards sensations felt at my pinky finger. And it improved, quickly. Still there was pain as I healed, but much less severe. The body is highly adaptable, and this goes for both favorable and unfavorable changes.
The Role of the Brain in Pain Perception
Pain is intended to bring awareness towards injury occurring in the body, cellular damage and death. This is how pain begins. And, it should end with healing. The reality: it did REALLY hurt. For an appropriate reason. But, the appropriate reason ended, and my perception was not corrected. All pain is interpreted, graded, and response is determined quicker than a blink of an eye, by the BRAIN. What I felt at my pinky finger was only a sensation. An input to my nerves, traveling to my brain, where it was decided that it REALLY hurt. It had been so intense, for too long, that my attitude had been influenced to determine any input to the pinky to be painful. My body had learned to feel intense pain, very readily.
Chronic Pain: A Different Perspective
Do you have chronic pain? It is REAL. But, it may not REALLY hurt as much as you are experiencing. Please come and visit us at AzOPT and allow us to help you understand your pain. Research shows that a more thorough understanding of pain can help significantly reduce our pain perception and severity. Beyond this, we offer a reduction and modulation of your pain sensation at a physiological level. This is critical, even if temporary, in effecting the perpetual chronic pain cycle. Beyond this, we can explain your pain to provide a healthier understanding and perception of your symptoms. Visit our website or give us a call for an evaluation. We want to help you Live Better!
Reference:
Louw A, Nijs J, Puentedura EJ. A clinical perspective on a pain neuroscience education approach to manual therapy. J Man Manip Ther. 2017;25(3):160-168. doi:10.1080/10669817.2017.1323699
Shpaner, Marina & Tulipani, Lindsey & Bishop, James & Naylor, Magdalena. (2017). The Vicious Cycle of Chronic Pain in Aging Requires Multidisciplinary Non-pharmacological Approach to Treatment. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports. 4. 10.1007/s40473-017-0126-5.
