Pain is defined as:
“An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.”
When we have actual tissue damage, pain is useful as it causes us to change our behaviour and move to habits of protection and healing.
This is like a fire alarm telling us there is a fire. We protect ourselves, call for help and the fire is put out. The alarm stops and we can then deal with the consequences and get back to normal.
However, the alarm system is not useful when it sounds and there is no evidence of fire. Or if the alarm sounds in response to a fire that happened a long time ago.
This is what can happen in Chronic Pain.
This does not mean you are imagining it.
Your pain is very real.
It just means that it might not be caused by damage or harm to the bit of your body that hurts.
In this instance we cast the net wider and look at injury history, life experiences, lifestyle, diet, exercise, stress management, sleep and a number of other factors.
We are looking for what is causing the area to still be painful.
The best thing and the worst thing about the Human Body is that we get good at what we do.
If we produce Pain for long enough, we tend to get pretty good at it.
To make progress we need to do some work to dampen down the Pain but this has to be only part of the process.
In my experience of working with people who have Chronic Pain, too often we can become so obsessed with the pain itself that we almost reinforce the problem.
This can lead to a passive “I am broken, I need fixing” approach.
To see long term results we need to really put a focus on actively rebuilding function, independence, confidence and self efficacy.
You need to be an active participant in your recovery.
This can be done in small steps but it helps us move from to ‘treating the injury’ to getting you back to your life, your sport and your activity.
If we ask WHY the Alarm won’t turn off, we have more chance of finding a long term solution, rather than ‘resetting it’ every few weeks.
If you are struggling with persistent pain and would like to explore some options, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.