Here is what science and research tells us:

Pain is a wonderful and protective internal alarm system in our body that is based on our need to survive.

Pain alerts us to danger, which motivates us to take action and stay safe. It keeps us from using our arm when it’s broken, helps us reflexively remove our hand from the hot pan that is burning it, and it pushes us to take action when we accidentally cut ourselves with a knife.

For years, pain was thought of as a measure of tissue damage. We now think of pain as a complex and sophisticated protective mechanism. Think of pain as an alarm system made up primarily of the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and sensory receptors or “danger detectors”. Those danger detectors are distributed all over our body and act as the eyes of the brain, which protects us. These danger detectors send messages from an affected area in your body, through the spinal cord, to the brain.

Your brain, using all of the information available to it (past experiences, memories, mood, emotions, trust, feelings of safety, input from your senses, degree of threat) will produce pain if it thinks we need to be protected.

When pain has been present for a long time, the pain alarm system can become faulty, sensitive, and too reactive as well. The threshold for danger becomes lower, and the alarm repeatedly sounds too soon.

A sensitive alarm doesn’t care what it’s interrupting. A relaxing moment to yourself, a quiet bath, family time, work, a good book, or a party.

Chronic pain is like the volume control on your phone. When the volume is low, the nervous system is calm, and we have less pain. When the volume is high, our nervous system is more activated, and we experience more pain.

This volume dial can be turned up or down BY YOU. It is certainly impacted by factors outside of our control (think genetics or anatomy, for example). But it is impacted by far more factors that are within our control, which is so different from the very little control we FEEL in our day to day lives with pain.

Those factors are completely unique to the person, which is why some people are more sensitive to pain than others, some brains tend toward overprotectiveness, and some have a volume control that is turned up more than others.

I like to think about influencing our pain volume or brightness from both ABOVE (top-down) and BELOW (bottom-up).

A top-down approach recognizes that one function of our brain is to keep us focused on important goal-directed activities. However, we need to prioritize this information coming from inside and outside the body. From above, we can turn down the volume by addressing our thoughts and changing where our attention lies (distraction). Working with your cognitions and the thinking brain can create change.

A bottom-up approach involves changing your nervous system’s response to pain, reducing anxiety or fear physiologically, through changing the autonomic nervous system. The idea here is that we can direct our attention to internal sensations, develop experiences of mastery, self-regulation, and send messages of safety to our brain. The other strategy for bottom-up approach is to give your brain CONTRADICTORY experiences with movement - exposure to exercise, movement, or activity that feels good, safe, or with less pain.

Multiple factors can contribute to an extra-sensitive alarm system, so we need to reduce threat and engage in behaviors that regulate the nervous system to recalibrate it.

Think of this like self-care +. You’re doing self-care, using the coping skills and tools you know are good for you, THROUGH THE LENS of the pain education you’ve received. This pain education is encouraging you to decrease threat and increase safety for your brain.

How?

Think of all of the things that make you and your nervous system feel safe. This can be any type of self-care, breathing exercise, quality social time, safe physical activity, or meaningful activities that bring joy. These are the things that can help regulate the nervous system, break the chronic pain cycle, and have an overall positive impact on your chronic pain. This type of education is a major part of chronic pain management as it will help many of the coping skills that you already use take hold and work better for you.

Does this education intrigue you? The idea of replacing threat with safety and getting your brain on board?

Education provides the power to take the next step in managing your pain. You want to do the things you enjoy (or even basic daily activities) without flaring up your pain. For a limited time, you can grab my free video tutorial to get you started:

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.

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