Understanding Pain
What is pain?
Our brains are supercomputers that are continually analyzing everything that goes on within our body and our daily lives. Pain is like a loud alarm that turns on when our brain weighs everything that's going on in our world and makes a judgement that there is some danger. It may sound simple, but danger and safety can be challenging to understand because everyone's definition of them is different. One person might faint because of the paper cut while another will laugh at the site of a broken limb. This is why no two people ever experience pain the same way. Every moment of our lives from the day we are born influences how we experience pain and our pain tolerance level. The most important thing to understand is that pain does not necessarily mean you're in danger, injured or being harmed.
Is pain all in my head?
When it comes to experiencing pain, the brain is the boss. It controls how and when we feel pain based on its assessment of everything that's going on in your body and life at that moment. This doesn't mean that "it's all in your head," but it does mean that with the proper education and techniques you can learn to control your pain and how much it affects your life.
A great example to help you understand this concept better is when you take your child to the playground to climb the monkey bars, and they fall and scrape their knee. Your reaction to that incident will have a massive effect on how your child experiences pain. If you panic, your child's brain will assess your response and decide he or she is in danger - even though the scrape on their leg is very mild and will heal on its own, the brain will ring the loud pain alarm, and they will cry and feel more pain. However, if you stay calm and reassure your child that everything is ok and that there's nothing to worry about they will likely brush off their knee and go back to playing on the monkey bars.
How does Movability treat pain?
At Movability we use the Bio-Psycho-Social model of pain to provide the best and most complete treatment possible. To understand this model better, we can break it down into its components. The "Bio" is what's happening with your body, both at the cellular level, the area of pain and your body function as a whole. The "Psycho" refers to what's happening in your brain such as stress, anxiety, depression, general mood and how your thoughts are affecting your sensation of pain. Lastly, the "Social" refers to what's happening in your social life right now that can be increasing your sensation of pain such as a traumatic event or a significant life change that's creating extra stress. The Bio-Psycho-Social model is like a jigsaw puzzle. Therefore, it requires attention to detail and a dedicated practitioner to put all the pieces together to create an effective treatment plan.
If you are experiencing pain and no longer want to live with it, contact us, and we can help you.