Pain perception arises from a complex interaction between a nociceptive stimulus and different emotional and cognitive factors, which appear to be mediated by both automatic and controlled systems.
When a person feels pain, a survival alert response kicks in, so the mind and body can go into panic. Why do some people handle pain better then others? Two people can undergo the same exact surgery or trauma, but one person can perceive the pain far greater than the other.
Suffering is a negative emotional response induced by pain, and also by fear, anxiety, loss, and other psychological states. Pain behaviors, such as grimacing, lying down, limping, and avoidance of physical activity may result from pain perception and suffering.
Here are different strategies to help reduce pain (noriceptive stimulus), and change a patients emotional suffering state:
Deep breathing:
When you breathe deeply, hormones such as nitrous oxide increase in the blood, reducing tension in the body's connective tissues and muscles.
Positive reinforcement:
There's also a mental aspect to the pain relief and can have a strong influence on each other. Therefore, if positive thinking is able to counter some of the effects of chronic stress, it could also help lower pain levels. Self-affirmation can also offer some potential relief during serious pain flares.
Reiki/Massage:
(Gate Theory)When you bang your shin on a chair or table, for example, you might rub the injured spot. The increase in normal touch sensory information helps inhibit pain fiber activity, therefore reducing pain perception. Important because it is through these gates that messages from your body pass towards your brain. If the gates are more open, then a lot of pain messages pass through to the brain and you are likely to experience a high level of pain. Reiki and Massage provide more sensory input which send signal to the brain and help reduce painful noriceptive signals.
Physical Therapy:
Physical Therapist can guide you and help people manage or eliminate pain and reduce the need for surgery and pain medicines, such as opioids, in many cases.
It is important to look at pain through a different lens, if we didn't feel pain we would not have a warning system that something is wrong, like touching a hot stove and having the signal that we must move away. There are people who have a pain insensitivity and they have a shorter life expectancy. They don't recognize these pain signals, and are unable to seek the help of a doctor before they get worse.
I promise... you much rather feel than feel nothing at all!
So take a deep breath remind your self that pain is normal and we are lucky to feel it so we know what to do to prevent further injury as well as understand the areas we need to address in order to get better.
The power is in perception you can choose to suffer and dwell in your pain or make the steps forward and do something about it!
There is no strength without pain, you will never grow without growing pains.
Rise above, You can!
We can be shackled by life as it happens to us and dwell and suffer in our pain, or choose to adapt to each circumstance and continue moving forward!
