If you are experiencing pain, you are probably one of the millions of people who are dealing with a feeling that is limiting your ability to live the way you hope to. Pain is such a common phrase in this day in age, but what is it? There is physical pain, emotional pain, relational, and other types of pain that people identify with. The thing is that they all tend to overlap. You might be afraid that something is wrong, or broken and that you need to fix it.
In physical therapy there are 3 main types that we try to differentiate when treating the patient: Peripheral, Nociceptive and Central. Peripheral is when a nerve is involved, nociceptive is mechanical (stepping on a nail) and central is when your central nervous system is overactive in sending protective messages.
The first thing we need to realize is that pain is an OUTPUT from the brain…not an Input. Nociceptive pain is needed to protect us, but when that output does not go away, it becomes chronic pain. The hard part is that your pain is still very REAL! Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. There are real messages being sent from your brain, but it is important that you are guided in learning how to tame the beast sending the messages so that you can continue to live your life!
The never ending message of pain takes over your thoughts, your life and everything else becomes very small. Unfortunately as the pain persists, we tend to fixate even more on it. That is why people get surgeries, injections or end up on medications that are not needed and actually worsen the situation.
That is where we can help in Physical Therapy. We can help reduce the threat level to help get you moving safely. We have the tools and skills to make sure that you are not causing harm as you start increasing your function, movement and strength.
If you are experiencing pain and would like to know exactly what may be causing it, please schedule a free 15 minute injury consultation with one of our skilled physical therapists. We here at Odom are passionate about treating the patient as a whole in order to keep you doing what we were made to do…MOVE!
Here are some free resources to help you as well!
- Pain-Ed
- Pain in Motion
- Publications Archives – International Spine & Pain Institute
- Tame the Beast
- Katrina Kneeskern, PT, DPT, Dip Osteopractic, Cert SMT, Cert DN, FAAOMPT FIT