Pain

Pain is a truly interesting concept.

Like emotions, it is purely individual to a person. It can be hard to describe at times and everyone will have a unique experience, even if they have a similar injury. But, why is that? There have been great leaps forward in pain science over the last decade and we are beginning to understand its mechanisms more than ever. We now know that pain is signal that is designed to alert our bodies to potential tissue damage but there is no direct link to the amount of pain we can experience to the amount of damage that may occur.

Imagine a papercut. It is extremely painful but there is only minor damage to your body, but you can also break bones and not experience any significant pain initially. Our bodies are constantly deciphering information to assess if it could harm us and how we each experience pain is controlled by several factors. Our body structures, immune systems, environments and even our emotions contrite to the pain experience. There are even conditions which you can develop where you experience quite a lot of pain from something that shouldn’t normally cause pain.

So next time you roll your ankle or feel a “twinge” in your back, just remember that you may not have hurt yourself as bad as you may think. Also, if you have been dealing with an area of pain for a long time, popping pills and resting on the couch can be doing you more harm then good! So, make an appointment with one of our great Physio’s to find how to better manage your pain and get back to doing the things you love.