Pain is your friend not your enemy

Pain is not your enemy, rather more like your friend--one that needs to be understood, not dismissed.  As defined, pain is an unpleasant sensation that can range from mild localized discomfort to agony.  This is just your bodies’ nervous system alerting your brain of something happening inside.  Some people think of this as their body punishing them, or worse--that they are dying.  It is understood that when in severe pain, people just want it to go away, which is a natural reaction.  However, pain is necessary, since those impulses keep us safe and warn us of up-coming danger, and it can teach us if you learn from your mistakes. 

There are many facets to pain that must be understood to control the duration and severity of the pain.  What type of injury is it; is it acute or chronic? What is your reaction to the pain; what is your emotional response? What type of lifestyle do you live; what’s happening around you?  All these components must be taken under consideration in order to relieve the pain quickly. 

Acute pain is immediate and intense; it could be a throbbing pain or a sharp pain.  Depending on the injury it can subside quickly, for example, like when stubbing your toe.  On the other hand you may need medical attention, like when you have a broken bone.

Chronic pain is slight; the intensity varies from mild to moderate. This pain can come and go, lasting for days to years depending on whether you get it looked at and taken care of properly. One of the mistakes many people pass over is correcting the scar tissue that is misaligned at that site.  Scar tissue is a quick response the body performs to heal an area, similar to a patch or band aid.  What is happening is the body puts down this “patch” in such a chaotic fashion that it does not align with the muscle tissue underneath, causing an unstable area.  Think of the muscle like a car, if the car wheels are not properly aligned it won’t drive well and can eventually fall apart or break.  In the body's case, the site where the scar tissue lies is more likely to re- injure. 

Understanding both types of injuries will give you the insight that you need to address your pain. Chronic pain is more common, like a neck or back pain which could be corrected by therapy. An acute pain, like a trauma or broken bone, will need the assistance of a doctor.

Addressing he emotional component of pain is a big step to understanding it, and the trickiest, since it works with the mind.  The mind is a super-computer and can change in many ways rapidly.  It’s all about learning to look at yourself and see what actually happens inside you, which is difficult. Once you realize what your mind does with those pain nerve impulses--like panic, screaming, over thinking, over-protecting, and/or ignoring--you can begin to change the reactions that are not necessary.

Your mind is conditioned from birth to deal with anything, but how you deal can also slow down the process. One interesting theory is the way you were raised.  Some cultures like American Indians teach tolerance to pain; these individuals will be aware of the physical sensation of pain but not let it bother them.  Others learn to bear with the pain without complaining because they have been raised in families where their needs were ignored and feel that others couldn’t help lessen their pain. Then there are children that only get attention when they are sick and as adults they may feel unconsciously that they won’t get taken care of unless they make a big fuss. As a result, these people do not deal well with pain since there mind races over so many things that the last thing their focused on is healing the actual problem.

Now, you don’t have to be in that last category to make pain stay around longer.  Remember the mind is a super-computer, and if left unchecked it will do what it needs to protect itself.  When you get injured your mind memorizes it and the next time something happens in that way or in that area it will anticipate the same thing happening and make the proper adjustments to protect itself, which is not always a good thing.  For example, someone may feel scared and pull away from a movement that is actually pain-free while in therapy because that is a movement or an area that normally hurts.

A huge component that is not really a main focus for people dealing with pain is their life style and how stressful it is. With high stress, the body's healing process is dramatically cut and it is hard to deal with if something were to happen. For instance, if a person that sleeps well and is very aware of the mind-body connection stubs their toe, they are more likely to see what’s happening, take a deep breath and allow the body to take the necessary measures it needs.  It does still hurt however they do not let it blossom into an ordeal, ruining the rest of their day. Now a person that  doesn’t sleep well and has a long day at work stubs their toe, they will most likely explode screaming at  everyone around them and may not regain control for a while, making the rest of the day a possible landmine for them and everyone around them.  In a stressful environment it is harder to deal with pain as well as heal, because of something called the “fight or flight” response.

The "fight or flight" response is our body's primitive, automatic response that prepares the body for fight (to run) out of harm's way.  This is hard-wired into our brains and bypasses our rational mind, so that you don’t think, you just react. When activated the brain flushes the body with hormones like adrenaline, noradrenalin, and cortisol, which cause the body to make dramatic changes.  Our respiratory rate increases, blood is diverted away from our digestive tract, to our limbs to prepare to run, our pupils dilate, our awareness intensifies, our sight sharpens, our impulses quicken, and our perception of pain diminishes.

All of this sounds amazing, but your perception of everything changes as well.  You see everything as a threat to your survival; you think everything in your environment can now harm you.  Your fear is exaggerated, so you see everything through a filter of danger. Fear becomes the lens through which you see the world.  When you are consistently overwhelmed, the body sees it as a series of short term emergencies--plus you lose the ability to relax, enjoy the moment and heal. At this rate burn-out is inevitable.

 

“Flight or flight” was very important when humans were out hunting and had the chance of dying at a moment's notice. However, nowadays you can activate your response easily, for instance a close car crash, or sometimes as simple as your alarm clock waking you up suddenly.  Realizing how often your response is will give you a huge piece to the pain puzzle, and slowing down the response will greatly improve many aspects of your health, speed up recovery and improve how you deal with pain. 

So personality, coping style, beliefs, lifestyle, and past experiences all greatly affect the way you deal with pain.  Understanding all these components will help you cope your pain a lot easier.

There are many ways to deal with pain and get your body back in optimum running order.  All these components must be addressed even when you are preventing injuries. To manage your “fight or flight” response, all you need is to burn off the excess hormones in your system by simply working out.  All that is needed is to break a sweat; anything more is going into a conditioning or training mindset. Now since this is hard-wired into your brain, you can’t turn it off; therefore it can only be managed. If you can learn to notice when it is happening, this will help you.  Learning to meditate will slow you down, allowing you to see what is actually happening inside.  If you have access to a pool, floating on your back will help since the sudden de-stimulation of a large area of your nervous system triggers a chain reaction to remove the stress hormones.  Massage is a great therapy as well depending on the type you receive and how much the body has changed in that short amount of time. 

Whichever method you choose, the mind-body connection will react to it. Plus, depending on your understanding of this material, the new transition to a pain-free life will be easier on you.  Now, the bigger the change, the more the body must work to get used to this new place in which it is, so take notice of the effects of which therapy you choose.  If you are the type of person that was always tight, your body will try to revert to tightness, since that is what feels comfortable.  The regression of the body will be accelerated by you reverting back to your old ways. 

If you can stay consistent, the body will begin to stay in the moment.  The body will be constantly healing itself and staying loose, which will result in a pain-free life.  In the event an injury occurs you will be able to cope easily since you now have the understanding of the components discussed here.