top of page

What is pain?

Simply put, pain is your body asking for change, signalling that something needs to be adjusted. Whether it’s shouting at you to move your hand off a hot stove or asking you to adapt your running style to help your joints, pain is a way of asking you to do something differently with your body.


Interestingly, pain actually originates in the brain. It’s an output signal, not an input signal. It is a mixture of nociception (think ‘noxious sensation’), plus context and psychology. For example, pain increases when one’s life, identity, job, hobbies, etc., are affected or endangered.


Pain can be acute or chronic, and it can be either useful or utterly useless. It also doesn’t always appear at the site of the injury or underlying issue.


Pain can often be the body’s last-ditch attempt to get your attention. This can happen after days, months, or years of compensating for disuse, misuse, abuse, and overuse.


So how can we deal with our pain? There are, of course, professionals like myself who can really help you deal with the problem, as well as GPs, Physios, Osteopaths, Sports Therapists, etc. But we can also help ourselves to a certain extent. Pain signals jump along the nerves with the help of chemicals called ‘neurotransmitters’. You get good ones and bad ones. Bad neurotransmitters make the pain worse, whereas good neurotransmitters block the pain. Guess what strengthens your good neurotransmitters? You guessed it: laughing, exercising, and doing the healthy things you enjoy—all the good stuff!


Doing these things in a way that doesn’t aggravate the issue but instead helps you break the pain cycle will allow you to get on with your life with more comfort and control. Oh, and, of course, don't forget to book your chiropractic appointment as well to really get your body and nervous system aligned and in a state of ease!


For more information on pain, please see www.britishpainsociety.org.



Comments


bottom of page