What you don’t know about pain MIGHT HURT

by | Sep 22, 2015 | New this month, Yoga, Yoga Therapy

For the last few weeks we’ve been talking PAIN. We’ve looked at the latest in the pain science research and discussed pain-induced fear.

Most of us think we know pain. After all, pain is an indisputable part of human experience; most of us have had at least one, if not several, intimate encounters with acute or/and chronic pain. So when I registered myself for Yoga for Pain Care training last year, I assumed that with all my history of chronic illness and persistent pain this course was going to be merely a review. Boy, I could not have been any further from reality!

Take Action

1. Test your understanding of pain – True or false?

  1. Pain only occurs whenever you are injured.
  2. Worse injuries result in worse pain.
  3. Chronic back pain is an indicator of a weak back.
  4. Chronic pain means that an injury has not healed properly.
  5. The body tells the brain when it is in pain.
  6. It is possible to ignore pain.
  7. All other things being equal, an identical finger injury will probably hurt more in a violinist than a yoga teacher.
  8. It is possible to control pain without medications or surgery.

Here are the answers:

  1. Pain only occurs whenever you are injured.

FALSE: it is possible to injure your body without experiencing pain and it is also possible to experience pain when there are no danger messages coming from the body.

  1. Worse injuries result in worse pain.

FALSE: pain is not an accurate indication of tissue damage

  1. Chronic back pain is an indicator of a weak back.

FALSE: pain is not an accurate indication of tissue health

  1. Chronic pain means that an injury has not healed properly.

FALSE: damaged or abnormal tissue is not sufficient to produce pain, or chronic pain.

  1. The body tells the brain when it is in pain.

FALSE: from a holistic perspective pain is related to thoughts, emotions, behaviors, attitudes, beliefs. Pain system is an alarm system – it can warn you when you have been damaged, or when you are approaching damage, but also when you are in a situation similar to a past experience in which you have experienced pain.

  1. It is possible to ignore pain.

TRUE: it is possible to ignore pain, but not to change pain. Clinical studies suggest that using distractions to ignore pain may be an effective strategy for immediate, acute pain control.

  1. All other things being equal, an identical finger injury will probably hurt more in a violinist than a yoga teacher.

TRUE: we all have neurons in the skin that send information to the brain about the quality of sensation; chances are our violinist will have more brain mapping connected to his or her fingers, and therefore will receive more sensory input.

  1. It is possible to control pain without medications or surgery.

TRUE: recent research and clinical studies have shown that it is possible not only to control chronic pain with yoga, meditation and dietary changes, but actually reset the chronic pain mechanism.2. Get informed! Studies show that just 30 minutes of pain education is enough to reduce pain. Join a Pain Care Yoga class to learn more.

Hey, my name is Julia

Living with chronic pain has taught me to look for solutions in unlikely places –  places where most people see only problems.

Over the years I’ve gotten to be pretty good at this problem-solving and silver-lining finding thing.

So good that I felt compelled to share what I’ve learned and help others to find their sea legs while navigating, living, and winning their battle with chronic pain.