Monthly Archives: November 2015

Exploring Pain

The short series of quotes that I will paste below, says a lot.  I have regular discussions in my work with patients as well as in my teaching to other professionals around this topic.  Pain is an evolutionarily evolved way to alert us to real or perceived harm/danger to body and life.  Pain might be considered an interpretation of incoming sensory information as threatening or harmful.  The question is, it that interpretation accurate to the present reality, conditions and circumstances?  And, if pain persists, which we now know is linked to a process of physiological and neurological “sensitization” (much of which is located in the central nervous system (brain/spinal cord) and can be experienced in the absence of any damage or harm to the tissues where it is felt) can the physiology and the energy of that be unlearned?  Can that script be rewritten?

¨“Pain is normal.” (Consensus)

¨ “Pain is a decision by the (unconscious*) brain.” (Lorimer Moseley) (*added)

¨ “The fear of pain is often worse than the pain itself.” (James Gordon)

¨“Pain is less painful when we are confident we are safe…” (Unknown)

So, in this short post, I pose this question: how can we actively contribute to the biology of safety?  The answer must involve a whole person/living system approach – environmental, social, physical, chemical, nutritional, mental, emotional, spiritual, etc. (noting that even such distinctions, while necessary for semantics, imply separation between levels and it is all intricately stirred together in the same pot…)  I believe it is only in healthy relationship that we might begin to explore this question.  Blessings and prayers to all that are experiencing persistent pain,