Ask Dr. Nick
On today’s episode, Dr. Nick talks about the experience of pain and why people need to understand pain. Pain is a perception by the brain that tells us if we are in danger. It is necessary for survival and everyone must experience it. However, pain is not at the site of injury like the foot, hip, or neck.
Instead, damage may have occurred in this area and then a signal is sent from the receptors to the nerves, spinal cord, and eventually the brain, which is where we experience pain. You can’t have pain without the brain! After an acute injury, the above is the case. On the other hand, chronic pain usually means that the injury or tissue feeling pain has healed.
Therefore, the pain sensitivity and production is all in the brain in response to triggers and a decreased sensitivity threshold to cause pain. In this case, rehab is necessary to lower the alarm system in the brain in order to be able to increase function with less pain. Check out the video for more in depth information on how learning about pain can help you recover faster!
- Louw A, Zimney K, O’Hotto C, Hilton S. The clinical application of teaching people about pain. Physiother Theory Pract. 2016 Jul;32(5):385-95.
