Who’s ever had pain?
Everyone?
Of course we have all experienced pain at some point in our lives and most likely will again. If you are like me, you grew up associating pain with damage. It wasn’t until I started learning more about the body and pain in school that I realized that there are many factors that affect pain and your body’s response to pain and that pain is not always associated with damage! To be clear, there are instances where pain is associated with damage, but that’s not always the case. This is why I ask certain questions about your lifestyle and habits during an evaluation. Here are a few things that can impact your presentation of pain and factors that we can influence to help you feel better faster.
- Sleep: Sleep quantity (hours) and quality (amount of deep sleep) can affect your body’s response to pain. Poor and/or insufficient sleep can drive your body to have a heightened response to pain. Therefore, consistent sleep quantity and improved sleep hygiene can impact pain sensation.
- Stress: Our nervous systems are sensitized to respond to pain in different manners based on stress levels. Stress can alter hormone responses in a way that increases inflammation, which leads to increased pain. Managing stress levels is very important to maximize the body’s ability to heal and continue to function at our desired level.
- Emotions: Our emotions can affect our response to pain, and different emotions impact our pain responses differently. For example, feeling angry typically increases tension and can increase pain. Allowing, managing, and accepting different emotions can drastically change our pain response.
- Beliefs: Our cultural beliefs, our belief in ourselves, and other types of belief about pain can affect our pain levels. For example, if we have pain and are unable to complete the tasks necessary for us to feel productive and worthwhile in our lives, this can heighten our pain response.
So, many different factors in our life contribute to pain. As a physical therapist, I like to look at each person as a whole; then, I can address pain from as many different angles as possible and enable each patient to take control of each situation as we work together toward healing.
If you are struggling with pain and need help, reach out to us at E3 Physio so we can help you enjoy your life more and manage your symptoms.
