Knowledge Liberates
Knowledge liberates us from suffering, pain, and anguish. Understanding why and how it hurts is therapy.
Education is Therapy
Understanding what pain is and how it works helps you predict it and manage it in the moment. In pain management, knowledge is power.
Knowledge Liberates
Knowledge can help free us from our woe, because it shines a light on the unknown. When you invest in your understanding of pain, it places a lantern in your hand, with which you can see past the traps lying on your path.
Knowledge is the greatest pain liberator – Knowledge is power – Education is an analgesic – Understanding changes your perception of pain
Learning how pain mechanisms work grants top-down influence over pain modulation. This helps reduce fear, catastrophizing. and encourages the brain to calm its threat response. This lowers central sensitization and perceived pain intensity because education reframes pain as a protector rather than an unrelenting bully.
Pain is a Protector
Pain is meant to serve as a protector; it is the language the brain uses to prevent harm and move us toward safety. When our pain system is functioning well, we are rarely overstimulated, we can process our emotions without getting stuck in a perpetual doom loop, and be open to the idea that our brain can make mistakes.
In the throes of pain, it is challenging to believe discomfort can be your friend. Our pain system is a protector, and, like anyone who cares about us, it can make mistakes, misunderstand situations, and use approaches that can be counterproductive.
It makes mistakes because it is designed for pattern recognition. If it sees something that seems like a threat it will create emotional or physical pain. But, sometimes the patterns it identifies aren’t real, or have been amplified due to an elevated state. This elevated state is called central sensitization, and it is caused when our spinal cord is bombarded with imperceiveable raw data from the body.
Forgiveness & Grace
I believe forgiveness is an integral component of pain management, and it begins from within. We must admit that we are fallible from surface to center, because when we do, it softens the world. Give grace to your pain system for the mistakes it makes, because it loves and wants to protect you.
It doesn’t want to watch your struggle or squirm; it wants you to be happy and safe, but it has a limited vocabulary to help you. It doesn’t know everything, just as you don’t.
Giving grace to our internal systems helps us offer grace to others. It helps us forgive and offer soft spaces for people to land.
The relationship we have with our pain system sets the stage for how we co-regulate, or co-dysregulate, with others. The way we manage our internal life influences how others manage theirs.
Negative Feedback Cycles
Doom loops, lack of softness, and stress amplification.
A doom loop is when we get caught in a catastrophizing cycle: each sensation of pain or emotional anguish triggers another, which in turn triggers the next, and so on, until we are overwhelmed.
Doom loops magnify our sensitivity to stress and rob us of our soft spaces. Leaving us feeling undernourished, sometimes to the point of numbness.
These negative feedback cycles are internal, but they can be influenced by outside forces. For example, doomscrolling on social media can create a negative feedback loop that leads us to believe that everyone in the world is scary. As a result, our safe spaces may be taken away, and our stress increases.
How do we manage our negative feedback cycles?
Develop Your Mind-Body Connection
Refrain From Catastrophizing By Developing Your Somatic Vocabulary
Develop Active Coping Strategies
Develop A Relationship With Boredom
Develop Coregulation Strategies
Self-Soothe
Know That It Is Going To Be Okay
Pain Is An Output
Pain, like any output, whether an emotion or a sensory experience, can consume our entire attention.
Pain, emotions, and sensations consume our attention because they are how the brain communicates with us. It is the language of the mind, and if you become fluent in it, you will build a healthy relationship with your pain system.
Pain is normal, personal, and always real.
Your pain is yours, real and unique. No one else decides if you are in pain; pain is never imagined. If you feel pain, you have pain. You are not alone.
Your pain can go away, you can have more peaceful days, and live a delightful life.
When someone says your discomfort can’t be that bad, or there is no reason you should be experiencing a certain level of pain, it can be frustrating, heartbreaking, and confusing.
Pain is a very personal experience, and there are no accurate tests to determine what level of pain you are in. “What, how can this be? I have been told I have a high pain tolerance and pain threshold,” you might reply.
Pain threshold refers to the minimum intensity of a given stimulus for someone to first experience pain. While this may be documented, your reaction to that stimulus can change based on the environment and circumstance. In a doctor’s office, your pain threshold may be different from what it is at home or at work.
Pain tolerance refers to the maximum exposure to a painful stimulus that someone can tolerate before aborting the test. Pain tolerance has just as many variables, and a single test in a doctor’s office or clinical trial won’t provide you with a universal pain tolerance level.
You are already the expert on the sensation of pain; you know when you hurt, and you don’t need someone else to tell you that you how uncomfortable it is or isn’t.
Take the Next Step
If understanding your pain more clearly has been helpful, pain management coaching can help you put that knowledge into practice.
Coaching builds safety, sharpens discernment, and quiets the noise so you can respond to discomfort more clearly and with less urgency.
Learn more about pain management coaching or schedule a session today.
Disclaimer
Information provided on this website, including educational materials, pain neuroscience explanations, treatment suggestions, and any other content shared during sessions, classes, or coaching, is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or medical condition, and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
You should always consult a qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical concerns. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of information you receive here.
Jennifer Brand Spa
Pain Management at 2717 Hwy K, O’Fallon, MO 63368