What is Neuroplastic Pain? An Austin Pain Management Specialist Weighs In
Pain is your body’s way of letting you know a problem needs attention. Your brain generates a pain response based on signals from your body. Sometimes your brain makes a mistake and generates pain when there is no injury. An Austin pain management specialist can help your brain feel safer.
Pain is a danger signal generated in the brain. We feel pain to protect us from future tissue damage. The whole function of pain is to alert you to a problem.
How does pain work?
Sensory receptors send messages through nerve fibers to the spinal cord, where the sensations are registered
These messages then go on to the brain where they are perceived
Every pain sensation you feel, regardless of the cause, is generated in your brain. Sometimes the brain misinterprets safe signals as dangerous and sets off the pain alarm in error. This is called neuroplastic pain.
In 1995, the British Medical Journal published an article about a construction worker who stepped on a nail that went all the way through his boot. He was in unbelievable pain and had to be sedated at the ER. They removed his boot in preparation for excising the nail…and saw that the nail had gone between his toes. It did not penetrate his foot at all.
This man was in pain. Terrible pain. He felt it. He wasn’t making it up. He saw the nail going through his boot and his brain filled in the gaps. Brain does what brain does.
Fear is a key ingredient in chronic pain. Fear provides the fuel for the pain response. By targeting the fear, a pain management specialist in Austin can reduce or eliminate your pain.
Pain = sensation + fear
When the brain believes the body is damaged, it responds with pain.
Fear of the pain includes feelings of frustration, despair, anguish, anxiety, annoyance…anything that puts you on high alert.
Fear fuels the pain. When we respond to pain with fear, we get more pain.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a system of techniques rooted in neuroscience to reduce or eliminate chronic pain. It is based on the premise that most forms of chronic pain are caused by learned neural pathways and misfiring pain circuits rather than structural problems in the body. As a pain management specialist in Austin, I offer PRT. Go here to learn more.
PRT works to lessen the fear. The less fear around the pain, the less likely pain is to persist.
The Pain-Fear Cycle
Pain and fear are a vicious cycle. More fear=more pain and more pain=more fear. By targeting the fear part of the equation, an Austin pain management specialist can reduce or eliminate your pain.
Pain triggers feelings of fear
Fear makes the brain more likely misinterpret safe signals as dangerous which leads to more pain
More pain leads to more fear
More fear leads to more pain
Neuroplastic pain arises in an environment of fear. Sometimes there was an injury that has healed but the pain persists. Other times there was no injury and the pain started during a stressful time.
How can we assess whether your pain is neuroplastic?
Did your pain begin during a stressful time?
Did you grow up in a stressful environment?
Do you tend to worry, put pressure on yourself, or engage in self-criticism?
All of these things put your brain on high alert which increases the likelihood that your brain will generate a pain response.
As your brain learns that the signals received from the body are actually safe, the fear fades, and with it, the pain.
If this sounds useful to you, go here to learn more about how I work with pain and click here to schedule a free phone consultation with a pain management specialist in Austin.