The Pain Game

Pain is tricky. Sometimes it makes a lot of sense. You stub your toe and you feel pain. Sometimes it makes no sense. Sometimes it follows no obvious patterns and it can be so frustrating for the patient AND the provider.

I’ve been learning more about pain lately, especially that frustrating, non-pattern following kind. Of all the tips and tricks for treating that kind of pain, the most valuable seems to be adjusting mindset. I don’t mean to say it’s all in your head. But what I do mean to say is that believing something should hurt has been proven to make pain more severe. 

I’m sure many of you reading this have been told by a provider that you had the worst insert body part here they’d ever seen on xray/MRI. It may be true. Your image might be jacked up. But it’s hard to convince a patient that their image does not tell us a thing about what they should be feeling as far as pain is concerned. However, those words have a major influence on how severely you feel those symptoms and the possibility of them improving.  

There’s very little you can say to change the way a provider communicates with you. But there is a lot you can do about your own belief in your body’s ability to heal. Research supports that theory that believing you can be better makes you better, and believing you should feel pain makes you feel more pain. 

True movement specialists are good for seeing the xray or MRI, saying “good to know”, analyzing movement to determine the true cause of pain, and reminding you of what your body is really capable of. 

Ask us more about your stubborn pain and reasons you feel limited. We’d love to talk you through it!