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.