We’ve all felt it, some more than others. Sharp, dull, achy, or burning are a select few adjectives I’ve heard and used to describe pain. Some experiences of pain are brief, others more long term.
Pain is a universal experience that has often been considered a ‘harmful’ experience. The general understanding of pain is that it’s bad or at least means something bad has happened. Pain itself is not an indicator of tissue health or tissue damage. Pain is not a product of our bones, ligaments, muscles or tendons; rather, pain is a response generated through our nervous system. At its most basic level, pain is the result of our subconscious brain trying to make sense of an electrical signal coming from our tissues.
Pain serves in many ways to protect us and prevent us from doing further harm. Pain tells us to get away and/or to stop. But what does it mean when significant time has passed yet pain remains? What if we’ve been told our injury is “healed” yet pain remains?
Pain is multifaceted (a “multi headed dragon” sounds cooler ). Pain is an experience that draws from injury (both current and past), trauma (mental and physical), environment (social and physical), beliefs, sleep, health, etc.
To simplify pain to be caused by “just” a sprained ligament, bulged disc, arthritic joint is to disregard how intertwined and complex our pain response is. You should never be lead to believe that your pain is not valid, that your pain is not consistent with a certain injury, or that your pain must not be real because your injury is healed. These are shortsighted views on what pain truly is.
Pain is real; whether it’s 7 days, 7 weeks, 7 months, or 7 years. Your pain is REAL. For many that pain will go away, some quicker than others. Unfortunately for some that pain may stay. Wherever you find yourself know that there are options.
We are fortunate to be able to offer exceptional 1:1 time with our patients. This affords us the ability to identify the many potential factors contributing to your pain. This allows us to better provide you with an understanding of why you hurt, and may continue to hurt, and what you can do to better manage this hurt. The best treatment plan is individual and that’s why you won’t see a cookie cutter approach at HPC.
If you are experiencing pain, let us help. Get in touch with us at the Human Performance Centre (506) 738-8299 so that we can help.
Trevor is a physiotherapist at the Human Performance Centre. You can contact him at 738- 8299