explain
pain
section
5
page
102
How are you travelling?
Watch the fork in the road and don’t get stuck on a roundabout
W
hat about fear of pain itself? Pain is frightening,
especially if you don’t knowwhat is causing it. In fact,
some people reckon that fear of pain ismore disabling than
pain itself
157
. There is a lot to this idea – take a look at the
map on the next page. This is our version of a very famous
model called the fear avoidancemodel
158-161
. It goes like
this – youmight sustain an injury and then you quickly hit
a fork in the road. One direction is associationwith anxiety
about the cause, worrying about making the injury worse,
seeing a bunch of clinicians who tell you how bad your
injury is, increasing your fear of reinjury or pain.
Understandably, you start to avoid some activities and
movements, which reduces your fitness and strength. This
avoidance also reduces your quality of life, which increases
your anxiety andworry about your pain, sends you off to
more clinicians who tell you how bad it all is again, which
increases your fear and you avoid evenmore activities and
movements, your life loses a bit moremeaning and reduces
in quality. You get the picture – this is one vicious cycle.
Now, not everyone fits into thismodel, and those who do,
may fit in different ways. What about you? Can you
recognize this vicious cycle?We know that many people in
pain feel like they are on this brutal whirligig of things
getting worse andworse and it feels like they will never get
off. But here is the good news – you can!
Take a look at the opportunity bypass. By taking the pacing
and knowledge staircase, really working to understand your
pain and the biology that underpins, powerful therapy
opportunites open up. Sure youmight have to be brave and
confront some demons along the way. Sure it is not quick –
it won’t happen overnight. But make no bones about it, this
is the road towellbeing. We now know that if you
understandwhy there is a better way, that you have the
resources to overcome your pain, and you commit to
making the journey, you get better and better and better.
One way to help you take on this journey is to help you
work out how your own style and skills can help.
