Nonspecific Pain

By the very nature of nonspecific pain, it is elusive. No matter how much we yearn to find its origin, it remains hidden.

How do we do anything about our pain when we don’t even know why we hurt? The unknown is scary because it lacks a pattern to help us know where we stand or how we can influence our quality of life. This can lead to frustration, anxiety, and stress, which, unfortunately, results in the magnification of our pain.

How can nonspecific pain be treated? What can we do to reduce a type of pain that doesn’t have a specific known source?

The first step is to understand pain and how it works.

All pain is in your brain. Inside your mind is a map of your entire body. This map is so deeply integrated into our perception of reality that people who have had their limbs amputated can sometimes feel sensations in areas that no longer exist. Their phantom sensations occur because every sensation is processed in the brain, not in the area where it is felt.

This is powerful information because it reveals that pain is a byproduct of your brain’s perception of reality, not a physiological reaction to stimuli.

Your brain creates pain because it loves you. Love is kind, and kindness should never be mistaken for niceness. Kindness wants to protect, encourage, and foster healthy habits. Niceness is acquiescing to escape; it cannot protect or foster healthy habits because it fears accountability and rejection.

When the brain accurately assesses a threat, it will trigger the necessary pain.
When the brain misassesses a threat, it will create unnecessary pain.

The goal of pain management massage is to help you train your brain to refrain from creating unnecessary pain.

Negative Feedback Loop of Anxiety-Pain

Nonspecific pain may be the result of an anxiety-pain negative feedback loop. This is when pain causes anxiety, which intensifies the pain, leading to more anxiety, resulting in a never-ending loop of discomfort.

It may also be caused by psychological and sociocultural factors. Stress, sadness, disappointment, and other emotions can cause pain. And, it may be intensified by the stress and duress of our daily lives.

A Nonspecific Approach For Nonspecific Pain

A nonspecific approach is needed to address nonspecific pain. Rather than applying hyper-focused methods on one or two areas, a full-body massage usually yields the best results. These sessions tend to take 2+ hours, because every area of the body is massaged using the pain management method.

This is different from the standard franchise or entry-level massage. In a Swedish, deep tissue, or relaxation massage, each area receives minimal attention, with no more than one or two applications of each technique.

As a result, the brain is not provided an opportunity to identify a safety pattern, which reduces the effectiveness of the session.

A stress management massage is the ultimate level of pampering because its goal is to upregulate your parasympathetic nervous system and foster a whole-body sense of safety. While normally the squeaky wheel gets the oil, this approach oils all the wheels.