“Pain is bad …!”
❓Sure, being in pain is not comfortable. But did you know that the experience of pain actually comes from your brain? Essentially it is your brain’s interpretation of signals from, & information about, the body.
❗Your nerve endings have sensors for pressure, temperature & so on & these report back to the brain about what is going on with your body. So, for example, if you bump your elbow, the sudden pressure at the skin is registered & that pressure change is reported to the brain. The brain interprets that information as unpleasant, painful etc.
🛈 So, pain is better thought of as information. Sometimes there is no pain even if there is a lot of damage to the body (ever heard of extreme shock cases where the body & brain seem to be in auto-pilot, functioning without doubling over in pain?). There also can be a lot of pain when the body has healed from an injury.
😲 The good news in all of that is that the pain experience that comes from our brain is also changeable. Coming back to bumping your elbow: Do you know why rubbing an area of skin near where you bumped it seems to make it hurt less? Your brain actually receives the rubbing signal first & this means that there is less signal from the pressure (pain) sensors.
💁In a similar way, how we feel on a particular day, how much sleep we had the night before, what kind of a mood we are in, whether we are feeling supported or alone in pain – all those things influence the pain experience. The same information from the body is interpreted differently – more pain or less pain.
🧠So, it really pays to become pain smart: When you are in pain, try & think about what kind of pain it is (sharp, dull, shooting), where does it come from (does it feel more like the muscles like after a hard workout in the gym, or your bones/joints…) & learn how your body (& brain) react to different ways of dealing with the pain – gentle movement versus rest, relaxation & so on.
📚Over time you can build up your library of experience & try different things at different times.
😇 And one final fun fact: Swearing also impacts on pain experience. Believe it or not, using swear words repeatedly when you are in pain has scientifically been shown to reduce the pain intensity. #%! & yeah!
If you are keen to learn more about this or other topics related to brain and body health, follow me or subscribe to the blogpost. To work with me one-on-one to apply some of these principles to your own life and movement, message me for a free call. I look forward to hearing from you.
More resources (no paid partnerships or sponsorship)
- Pate, J. “The mysterious science of pain”
- Moseley, L. (narration). “Tame the beast” resource for persistent pain.
References (for the extra keen)
deRidder et al. (2021)
Mancini et al. (2014)
Stephens et al. (2009)