People who have suffered a manageable amount of pain seek relief, while those who have suffered an unmanageable amount of pain seek resolution. Resolution of pain means wishing for it to go away and never come back. Both relief and resolution are possible for most pains. But in order to take a realistic shot at pain resolution, most people need first to make a mind resolution. A resolution to do whatever it takes to reclaim their life, relationships and health from the grip of chronic pain and underlying causes.
Using hormetic (healthy) stress to heal painful tissues is a crucial element of pain management.. Even for pains that are predominantly nervous system based (like PTSD-associated pain), there is great value in healing and strengthening painful tissues.
Most people stand very little chance of escaping the chronic pain cycle until they fully understand ‘latency’. Because truly healing chronic pain requires ongoing, sincere effort long after symptoms have resolved.
Over time, a toxic belief can be as harmful to the body as a toxic chemical. One of the most toxic and inaccurate beliefs nurtured by many pain sufferers is that their pain is caused by getting older. The old age myth may stem directly from the global family doctor's office, where it is often advertised, but it's hard to know for sure where it started.
Healthy, strong tissues are highly resilient to damage; if they weren't, there would be no such thing as contact sports. So true injuries are, without exception, memorable physical events. If you experience a 'sudden pain' in your spine picking up a box of tissues, it is worth questioning how healthy your spine is; and whether it really qualifies as a true injury at all.
The basis of musculoskeletal pain is biomechanical. Yet, emotional trauma is the single most influential factor in determining the severity of chronic pain a population of patients will suffer. However, many chronic pain sufferers do not identify as having any significant trauma. Some because they legitimately don't. Many others because they do, but were just not aware.
The set of physical and mental conditions we refer to as trauma are caused by a failure to process our natural responses to stress. Adverse life events cause traumatisation via the mechanisms of our ancient biology.
Psychosomatic pain is real pain. Psychosomatic pain is not 'all in your head'. Psychosomatic pain is far more common than most of us realise. Psychosomatic pain is also very treatable when its underlying causes are identified and treated.
Many pain sufferers struggle to discern between what really causes their pain and what simply triggers their underlying pain issues. Triggers are always external forces and events, like bad sleep and awkward lifts. Whereas causes can be environmental, but are often internal challenges, like having a weak core, for example. The true causes of pain are always a very big and important deal. Pain triggers, on the other hand, are very helpful to know but often trivial in the grand scheme.
For most of human healthcare, we assumed that our symptoms were the problem. We have moved past that now to a large extent. For example: we know that the virus is the problem, not the green snot. Mucus is just a byproduct of healthy immune function. Prior to the microscope, we naturally assumed the redness and swelling of an infection was ‘the problem’. But since microscopes, we know our swelling is the body’s vital inflammatory response and the actual problem was an invasion of hostile microbes. Through this deepening of scientific understanding, we’ve moved past ‘symptom blaming’. Somewhat. Because we still very much do it with pain.
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