Heafner Health- Physical Therapy Blog

Your Brain is like a Battery

3/20/2018

I was recently working with someone who had neck pain after a mountain biking accident. During the evaluation, he reported hitting his head on the ground and experiencing a concussion during the accident. He stated "I am having difficulty remembering recent events and multi-tasking is near impossible! It's extremely frustrating!." Performing higher level tasks was easier in the morning and became progressively more challenging throughout each day. Additionally, he reported the desire to take naps throughout the day. When he questioned why his brain felt exhausted, I told him "It is because your brain operates much like a battery."

(This text is adapted from "Sticks & Stones," a book by Jarod Hall PT, DPT, OCS and Jim Heafner PT, DPT, OCS. "Sticks and Stones" is in the final stages of development. Final versions of the text to be released to public in May 2018. Please reach out if you are interested in learning more information!)

If you have persistent pain, recently had a surgery, or an injury (such as a concussion), your brain may be working in overdrive! In each of these scenarios it's not uncommon for patients to report that their brains feel tired early in the day, that they have trouble doing complex thinking tasks such as math, and even mix up their left from their right! Why does this happen? In situations like this you can liken your brain to a battery. This idea can be thought of in two separate ways.

1) You start each day at 100%, but quickly drain the battery each day
2) You start each day at 50% or 75%, unable to fully charge the battery

When you are experiencing persistent pain, your brain isn't receiving adequate rest or recharge each day while at the same time it’s burning through battery life at a faster rate. It could be likened to plugging in your Iphone, but removing it from the charger at 50% or constantly having apps running in the background using up all of your battery charge. Your ability to complete all tasks is limited because you are starting at a lower energy threshold. Factors that can affect battery levels are stress, sleep, diet, exercise, nutrition, and performing complex or high stimulation tasks.

To reverse this process, you must understand that your brain is very adaptable and needs to be charged up just like a battery. To break the cycle and charge your brain battery and get out of pain you must focus on getting good sleep, spending time doing meaningful activities, gradually introducing and progressing exercise, eating well, and finding ways of managing stress. The human brain will continue to remold and remodel to gradually get stronger. However, it is a sensitive structure. As your brain is getting stronger, you must respect the healing process.

Think about the battery on your phone or computer. Certain programs use more energy and cause the battery to operate slower. Similarly, your brain uses more energy to perform certain tasks and process complex scenarios.

By Jim Heafner PT, DPT, OCS
Heafner Health Physical Therapy & Movement Specialists
Boulder, CO

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Pain is like an Alarm System

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Pain is like an Alarm System

3/2/2018

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Most people think pain is an indicator of the amount of tissue damage present in the body. The belief is that high amounts of pain equate to a large injury, and a small amount of pain equates to a small injury. However, through extensive research, it has been shown that pain has little correlation to the amount of tissue damage. For example, a paper cut may cause intense pain, while a broken bone may go unnoticed. In 2013, when Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware sustained a horrific leg fracture, he reported, "it was one of those things where I couldn't believe it. I honestly didn't feel the pain. It was more a shock."

"At the center of the alarm system is your brain, which beeps when it THINKS something is going wrong or is potentially dangerous."

Kevin Ware’s story perfectly demonstrates that pain is more like an alarm system. It is an evolutionary provided and naturally built system designed to keep you out of danger. At the center of the alarm system is your brain, which beeps when it THINKS something is going wrong or is potentially dangerous. If the system is healthy, it warns you when something is wrong just as your home alarm rings when a burglar breaks a window or your car alarm sounds if a car thief tries to wiggle your door open.

"Just as a smoke detector can be set off in the absence of fire, a home alarm in the absence of a burglary, and a car alarm when you accidently press the panic button, your body’s alarm system sounds off signals of pain in the absence of any REAL danger or threat."

However, just as a smoke detector can be set off in the absence of fire, a home alarm in the absence of a burglary, and a car alarm when you accidently press the panic button, your body’s alarm system sounds off signals of pain in the absence of any REAL danger or threat. The alarm may sound if a bird flies into a window or if you accidentally open the door after you have set the security code. In both of these cases there is no real danger, but the alarm rings in an effort to protect you. For safety, it is far superior for the alarm to be more sensitive and have false alarms, rather than to be hard to trip and not protect you in the case of a true threat.

Just as other alarms can misfire, your internal protective mechanism can do the same. Fear, stress, endorphins and adrenaline, anxiety, depression, lack of sleep, overactivity, poor nutrition, sickness, and many more factors can influence your alarm system’s perception of danger, increase sensitivity, and lead to a greater protective experience of pain. In Kevin Ware’s story, a large amount of endorphins and adrenaline as well as a massive NCAA crowd slowed his alarm system from signaling. Being familiar with the numerous factors that turn up or turn down the sensitivity of your internal alarm system is the first step in understanding how to better calibrate in the presence of injury.

(This text is adapted from "Sticks & Stones," a book by Jarod Hall PT, DPT, OCS and Jim Heafner PT, DPT, OCS. "Sticks and Stones" is in the final stages of development. Final versions of the text to be released to public in May 2018. Please reach out if you are interested in learning more information!)

If you think your pain-alarm system is misfiring, contact Heafner Health!

Contact Dr. Jim Heafner

13 Comments

Your Brain is like a Battery

1) You start each day at 100%, but quickly drain the battery each day
2) You start each day at 50% or 75%, unable to fully charge the battery

Think about the battery on your phone or computer. Certain programs use more energy and cause the battery to operate slower. Similarly, your brain uses more energy to perform certain tasks and process complex scenarios.

Pain is like an Alarm System

"At the center of the alarm system is your brain, which beeps when it THINKS something is going wrong or is potentially dangerous."

"Just as a smoke detector can be set off in the absence of fire, a home alarm in the absence of a burglary, and a car alarm when you accidently press the panic button, your body’s alarm system sounds off signals of pain in the absence of any REAL danger or threat."

If you think your pain-alarm system is misfiring, contact Heafner Health!

Heafner Health

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Categories

Your Brain is like a Battery

1) You start each day at 100%, but quickly drain the battery each day2) You start each day at 50% or 75%, unable to fully charge the battery

Think about the battery on your phone or computer. Certain programs use more energy and cause the battery to operate slower. Similarly, your brain uses more energy to perform certain tasks and process complex scenarios.

Pain is like an Alarm System

"At the center of the alarm system is your brain, which beeps when it THINKS something is going wrong or is potentially dangerous."

"Just as a smoke detector can be set off in the absence of fire, a home alarm in the absence of a burglary, and a car alarm when you accidently press the panic button, your body’s alarm system sounds off signals of pain in the absence of any REAL danger or threat."

If you think your pain-alarm system is misfiring, contact Heafner Health!

Heafner Health

Archives

Categories

1) You start each day at 100%, but quickly drain the battery each day
2) You start each day at 50% or 75%, unable to fully charge the battery