17/02/2021
“Consider your pain bucket, where EVERYTHING in your life either fills or empties it, and pain occurs when it overflows”.
Wow! Mind blown!
Just attended an incredible online CPD on Pain Science which really challenged my understanding of pain - and made me consider my beliefs and the way I talk about pain with my clients.
Pain is such a complex and emotional experience, but like love or hunger, it is our brain’s perception and interpretation of information.
It is influenced by a combination of both internal and external factors (stress, past experience, knowledge or lack of, fear, personality)- and all of these are personal to the INDIVIDUAL.
Therefore, we all experience pain differently - even in response to the same injury. So.....
- Pain can exist with or without injury.
- Injury does not have to result in pain.
- Our experience of pain and the seriousness of injury are in NO way correlated.
In fact, our beliefs (whether positive or negative, fact or fiction) are critical in determining our pain experience, and CRITICALLY, our recovery from it.
Therefore, our treatment plans for pain cannot be formulaic....they are highly complex and personal. The same physical injury cannot be treated in the same way every time.
So when your therapist next asks you questions, or engages you in conversation about your life, your family, your work, your past, your inner monologue - don’t hold back. It’s not idle chit-chat. They are trying to build a picture, and understand the variables in your life that just may be inadvertently contributing to your pain bucket....It’s because they care about YOU.
