Pain is your brain’s protective response to signals of possible danger from your body, and it is shaped by your past experiences, surroundings, beliefs, sleep and stress, not just by tissue damage. That is why pain can be felt without an injury, and why movement, good sleep, managing stress and hands-on treatment can all help turn the volume down.
Pain and inflammation are usually spoken about negatively, and are things everyone wants to get rid of. But why does the body actually experience pain and inflammation?
The body is an amazing and complex system. There are a lot of processes happening at the same time that humans are not consciously aware of. In order to explain pain properly, we need to debunk a few myths.
Myth 1: Your nerves send pain messages to your brain
It is often thought that when people experience something painful (e.g. touching a hot plate) that a pain message is sent up through the spinal cord to the brain.
However, the body and brain are not processing a pain signal. They are processing a danger signal. These danger receptors (called nociceptors) respond to things that could cause harm, such as very high or low temperatures, strong pressure and certain chemical changes in the body’s cells. They do not detect pain itself. Your brain then decides whether to produce pain, and that depends on an array of factors such as:
- Previous experiences
- The current environment
- A person’s beliefs and thoughts
Have you ever wondered how during life-threatening or traumatic events, people may not have realised they hurt themselves until afterwards? For example, an athlete may have a broken bone on the sports field and feel little pain until the game is over. This shows that pain is a complex whole-body experience and it doesn’t always match the amount of tissue damage.
Myth 2: Pain only occurs when you are injured
Remember, special nerves in the body carry danger signals. There are no special pain receptors that send pain messages to the brain. If your nervous system becomes more sensitive, or keeps receiving danger signals, you may feel pain even when there is no new injury. This is common in ongoing (chronic) pain. Ways to help calm a sensitive danger system can include lifestyle factors such as:
- Eating well
- Exercising often
- Having a good night’s sleep
- Meditating or relaxation
- Socialising with a friend or family member
Danger signals can also be dampened down by hands-on physiotherapy techniques and by remedial massage.
Myth 3: Inflammation is always bad
Acute inflammation can occur after injuries such as an ankle sprain. The ankle and foot often look red or swollen and it can be painful to touch or move. This immune/inflammatory process is normal and it actually helps recovery. There are special cells within the inflammatory fluid, called macrophages, which come to eat and clean up any debris. This helps to make the injury site clean so new tissue can start to grow and heal. This is one reason current first-aid advice for soft tissue injuries (PEACE & LOVE) suggests avoiding anti-inflammatory medicines in the first few days. So next time you think acute inflammation is bad, just remember it’s part of your body’s way of healing itself!
Pain in different parts of the body
Understanding pain can help whatever part of your body hurts. You can read more about how we help with:
- Low back pain and sciatica
- Neck pain and headaches
- Shoulder pain and tennis elbow
- Knee pain and osteoarthritis
- Heel pain
- Chronic (ongoing) pain
The main take-home message is that pain is not as simple as people think and it is unique to each individual!
