Some of the most powerful words in the world of medicine and physical ailments:

You are going to be okay.

Yet, most patients with chronic pain have never heard them.

When most patients see a pain provider, they are given lessons on anatomy or biomechanics.  There are some studies that indicate this has limited efficacy and can actually increase fear.  Further, using degenerative (wear and tear anyone?) terms are actually associated with a poorer prognosis.  Pain is a normal part of human experience, but the tissue isn’t always the issue. Moreover, this strategy used by so many providers doesn’t even address the main issue in the room – pain, or a newish word in the world of chronic pain – bioplasticity. This term has been popularized by the incredible pain experts from the NOI Group, where physical therapists are leading the charge on some of this incredible pain science.

Bioplasticity acknowledges that all of the systems in our body have the potential to change (from our skin to our immune system to our muscles and our brain). The idea of these sytems being plastic can be likened to the idea of plastic material being melted, recycled, molded into new shapes. With new demands placed on it repeatedly, our body systems can adapt, grow, and change.

A great example of the bioplastic potential in the body is seen in recovery after stroke. After a stroke, with repeated practice and movement, a person can gain motor function back on the injured side because of the brain’s unique ability to grow and make new connections in response to new learning or behavioral changes.

Bioplasticity has a dark side and a bright side. 

The dark side develops because our body systems get more and more savvy at keeping us safe.  Nerves that convey danger messages to our brain and brain cells involved in making pain become more sensitive and our emotional, cognitive, endocrine, and autonomic coping systems are being turned on and dialed up for too long.  This makes us, as a whole, more edgy. This process (at least initially) is normal - it is just our body systems trying to get better and better at looking after us.

The bright side of bioplasticity gives us hope, regardless of a pain condition or duration.  Protective systems in our brain and body can be dialed down and even turned off with experience, with different ways of thinking, talking, behaving, and moving.  A knowing that we can gain from education about pain, and about the bioplastic potential of our bodily systems, is powerful (David Butler, 2015).

 “Bioplasticity got you into this situation and bioplasticity can get you out again”

- Professor Lorimer Moseley.

 This is the 4th building block of my pain phillosophy.

1. My pain is real. My pain is personal. My pain is multidimensional.

2. Pain is more than just mechanical.

3. Pain is like an alarm system and it can be recalibrated.

4. I am bioplastic and I will be okay.

When you break down the word bioplasticity, bio = life and plasticity = changing. This word literally means “life changing”.

All body systems, not just the brain and neurons, have the potential to change.  And the great news?  This change can start anytime.

Step 1: Education, education, education. When you can have a basic understanding of the neuroplasticity, the role of the brain and nervous system in pain, and the plastic (ability to adapt and change) potential of your body systems, you have built the essential foundation for change. The moment you start learning is the moment that you start making bioplastic change.

Step 2: Find compassion for yourself. Our bodily systems are designed to keep working to protect us. However this has impacted your chronic pain experience is not your fault. Approach this through a new lens, with empathy and kindness for yourself and what you’ve been through.

Step 3: Commit to change. It can sometimes take a year or more of learning and brain retraining, behavioral changes, and repeated practice of new skills to start seeing adaptation and shifts in how you feel and how your pain is experienced.

Step 4: Gain knowledge of how to “dial down” your protective systems. Gain confidence with turning them down (or even switching them off!) with this by learning new ways of thinking, behaving, moving, and understanding.

If you loved what I taught here today, you’re going to love my free video tutorial:

3 Simple Steps to a Balanced Day... Without the Flare-Ups.

This free video tutorial is dedicated to helping women with pain begin to find confidence to return to the moments, activities, and people they love the most.

Reference: NOIJAM, Bioplasticity by David Butler