Understand How Pain Works
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"Whether you like it or not, pain is 100% produced in the brain! I'm not saying you are making it up, but merely telling you where it comes from. This is an important distinction."
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One Interconnected Ecosystem
To learn about pain, It is important to understand that your whole body is integrated
Humans are complex beings made up of multiple systems. There’s the nervous system, skeletal system, muscular system, endocrine system, immune system, gastrointestinal system and many more. In the past, each of these systems has been viewed separately from one another; each system was put into its own silo and treated as if it were completely independent of the others.
However, the truth is, all of these systems work together every moment of every day to maintain homeostasis. Homeostasis can be defined as the stable condition of an organism and its internal environment, or simply, as the balance of bodily functions. Every system in the human body plays a role in helping to combat stressors and maintain homeostasis. Issues such as pain, injury and sickness often emerge when there are too many stressors placed on one or several systems.
However, the truth is, all of these systems work together every moment of every day to maintain homeostasis. Homeostasis can be defined as the stable condition of an organism and its internal environment, or simply, as the balance of bodily functions. Every system in the human body plays a role in helping to combat stressors and maintain homeostasis. Issues such as pain, injury and sickness often emerge when there are too many stressors placed on one or several systems.
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This overload of stressors forces the body out of equilibrium. These stressors can fall into separate but equally important physical, psychological and emotional categories. Fortunately, humans are wonderfully resilient and it usually takes more than one of these scenarios to drive the system out of homeostatic balance.
Pain and Your Brain
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Traditionally, pain was thought to be a direct sensation sent from the body to the brain, or from “the bottom up.” In this theory, the spinal cord and brain are simply receivers of the pain messages transmitted from the site of tissue damage by “pain nerve fibers” in the body. This theory assumed a direct relationship with tissue damage and proposed that the greater the amount of tissue damage, the greater the amount of pain. Greater tissue damage would indicate an increased activation of “pain receptors” and create a larger volume of “pain messages” to the brain.
A more contemporary and accurate understanding of pain is one that proposes pain is an output of the central nervous system rather than an input from the peripheral nervous system. This model of pain states that pain isn’t being relayed to the brain, but instead is an experience created by the brain in response to a variety of inputs and influences from the body. Some of these influences include: tissue damage, a person’s expectations, the context of an environment or scenario, one’s current emotional status, beliefs, sleep status and the presence of disease, among others. You will learn a whole lot more about these categories on subsequent pages. |
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5 Primary Determinants of Health
At Heafner Health, we believe in 5 key principles to reducing pain, maximizing performance, and ultimately helping you find greater purpose and meaning in life. These 5 areas are as follows:
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Questions to Ask Yourself While Experiencing Pain
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Since pain can be overwhelming, having a few starter questions is very helpful when understanding your pain.
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Memory and Experiences
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Humans
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