By in Joints & Muscles

Pain & The Person in Front of Me

The majority of people I meet clinically are there because they are in pain. They are there because the pain that they are experiencing can be alarming, and they do not know how to best manage it.

Pain gets a bad rap, not just because it is unpleasant, but because of the impact that it can have on our quality of life.

Have you ever missed a social event, or avoided going out because you were unwell? I would guess probably at least once or twice in your life, but that illness didn’t cause you significant anxiety because you knew that the symptoms and the infection would run their course, and you would be back to normal within a week or two anyway. To miss that event or stay at home is a short-term strategy to get better sooner and not feel worse.

People in persistent pain probably don’t feel their symptoms will be gone in a week or two, and the impact of avoiding social events and not leaving the house so often has a significant impact on their quality of life, leading to a vicious cycle of pain and inactivity.

Inactivity is part of the problem. Our muscles, bones and joints crave movement to keep them healthy, strong and resilient, yet if we don’t move because of the way we feel, our body becomes weaker and less resilient. Tissue injury can be caused by a trauma such as a fall or sports injury or car accident, but pain without trauma seems to instil more fear into some people.

When we have pain, it hurts to move, yet avoiding moving in the long term has a far greater adverse impact on our body than keeping moving despite the pain.

Knowing how to confidently manage one’s own pain has so much to do with what we believe is going on. If we believe this pain will recover within a week or two, there is less anxiety, and we are less likely to hide away from life in the long term. However, if we do not have confidence that there is nothing nasty causing the pain we are in, then we are more likely to stay at home and avoid the practicalities of life and also the events we should be out enjoying.

Pain is a very complex, and individual interaction between the body and the nervous system that most of the time doesn’t even correlate with damage to our tissues. Through good research over the last 15 to 20 years, we have a far better understanding of pain and the impact that poor pain management has on an individual’s level of suffering.

I have spent years getting to grips with the science of pain and suffering and identifying practical strategies and treatments for people in pain. I feel honoured to be in a position to help people suffering from pain, and it gives me enormous gratification when my patients get their life back on track after a period of pain.

If you are suffering or have been suffering from physical pain, including back pain, then I would like the opportunity to meet and discuss that with you and hopefully offer a practical way through this and out the other side.

This article was written by Matthew Oliver M.Ost DO ND. Osteopath.

Louise
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