explain
pain
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Pains from bites, postural pain, strains and sprains
are simple ‘everyday’ pains that can be easily related
to changes in tissues. The brain concludes that the
tissues are under threat and that action is required,
including healing behaviours. An added benefit is
that memories of the painwill hopefully protect you
frommaking the samemistake twice. Maybe the
monkey bite nursery rhyme provides future protective
behaviours for awhole family or even a society.
But we all know that pain can be amore complex
experience. The word ‘pain’ is also used in relation
to grief, loneliness and alienation. What is it about
the pain of lost love that makes it as debilitating as
any acute low back pain? This emotionally laden pain
helps us to grasp a big picture for understanding
pain. All pain (in fact, all experiences!) involvesmany
thoughts and emotional contributions. We need the
brain to help us understandwhy emotions, thoughts,
beliefs and behaviours are important in pain.
We need the brain in order to really understand pain
– especially pain that persists, spreads or seems
unpredictable. That is the critical thing. If we are
going to understand pain, wemust engage the brain.
If you are in pain right now, then you are not alone.
In fact, at any one time on the face of the earth, around
20 percent of people have pain that has persisted for
more than 3months.
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That’s around 2million
Londoners or 4million residents of Mexico City! In
the top 10most burdensome health issues of our
time, chronic pain problems occupy first, fourth and
eighth positions.
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When pain persists and feels like it is ruining
your life, it is difficult to see how it can be
serving any useful purpose. But evenwhen pain
is chronic and nasty, it hurts because the brain
has concluded, for some reason or another, that
you are threatened and in danger and need
protecting – the trick is finding out why the
brain has come to this conclusion.
