Understanding Pain
by Laura Perry DC, LMT
Your pain has a purpose.
It may seem obvious, but I can’t tell you how often that I see people overlook this simple fact. When pain has control of your life, it can generate emotions that cloud your ability to see the obvious. Personally, this has happened to myself many times, and I should know better. You just want the pain to end and you don’t care that the pain serves a purpose. But, I’m here to tell you that the first step in eliminating your pain is to understand your pain.
The purpose of pain is to protect injured tissues of the body.
Your pain exists to protect you. It protects you in two different ways. First, pain makes you conscious of an injury. For example, if you cut your foot, the pain serves to make you aware of the cut. Your awareness helps you to minimize further injury (such as infection) to your foot.
Second, pain serves to modify your activities and behavior. If the cut on your foot hurts when you walk on it, you will stop walking with that foot, allowing the cut to heal quicker.
Understanding that your pain is trying to protect you changes your whole perspective. No longer is your pain a monster that seeks to destroy your life. Rather, it becomes your friend, safe-guarding you from further injury.
Muscles are the most frequently injured tissues of the body.
Your muscular system is the largest organ system in your body. It gives you the critical ability to move about in your environment. It is also the body tissue most likely to be injured by the activities of your daily life. Modern medicine tends to overlook the muscles as a source of pain, preferring to concentrate on the nerve and joint tissues. But in truth, joint and nerve injuries typically occur secondarily to muscle injuries.
The most common injury to a muscle is a trigger point.
Typically, when one thinks of muscle pain, they think of injuries such as muscle strains and spasms. But there is a much more common muscle injury that everyone has suffered from. It is called a trigger point. Right now, if your in physical pain, the chances are excellent that you have not just one trigger point, but multiple trigger points in your muscles.
The vast majority of physical pain is caused by trigger points.
Trigger points are the most frequent occurring injury to the largest organ system in your body. Your everyday activities, as well as accidents, falls, and physical trauma, can produce trigger points. As such, trigger points are very prevalent in many common pain disorders.
The reason trigger points are not more widely recognized is because they are not as straightforward as other injuries.
It takes a little more understanding to recognize trigger points as the source of your pain. You must listen to your particular pain more closely. You must understand how its presence protects you. As we will see, that extra bit of understanding makes all the difference.
The Next Step
Learn about Clinical Trigger Point Therapy by clicking here.
It may seem obvious, but I can’t tell you how often that I see people overlook this simple fact. When pain has control of your life, it can generate emotions that cloud your ability to see the obvious. Personally, this has happened to myself many times, and I should know better. You just want the pain to end and you don’t care that the pain serves a purpose. But, I’m here to tell you that the first step in eliminating your pain is to understand your pain.
The purpose of pain is to protect injured tissues of the body.
Your pain exists to protect you. It protects you in two different ways. First, pain makes you conscious of an injury. For example, if you cut your foot, the pain serves to make you aware of the cut. Your awareness helps you to minimize further injury (such as infection) to your foot.
Second, pain serves to modify your activities and behavior. If the cut on your foot hurts when you walk on it, you will stop walking with that foot, allowing the cut to heal quicker.
Understanding that your pain is trying to protect you changes your whole perspective. No longer is your pain a monster that seeks to destroy your life. Rather, it becomes your friend, safe-guarding you from further injury.
Muscles are the most frequently injured tissues of the body.
Your muscular system is the largest organ system in your body. It gives you the critical ability to move about in your environment. It is also the body tissue most likely to be injured by the activities of your daily life. Modern medicine tends to overlook the muscles as a source of pain, preferring to concentrate on the nerve and joint tissues. But in truth, joint and nerve injuries typically occur secondarily to muscle injuries.
The most common injury to a muscle is a trigger point.
Typically, when one thinks of muscle pain, they think of injuries such as muscle strains and spasms. But there is a much more common muscle injury that everyone has suffered from. It is called a trigger point. Right now, if your in physical pain, the chances are excellent that you have not just one trigger point, but multiple trigger points in your muscles.
The vast majority of physical pain is caused by trigger points.
Trigger points are the most frequent occurring injury to the largest organ system in your body. Your everyday activities, as well as accidents, falls, and physical trauma, can produce trigger points. As such, trigger points are very prevalent in many common pain disorders.
The reason trigger points are not more widely recognized is because they are not as straightforward as other injuries.
It takes a little more understanding to recognize trigger points as the source of your pain. You must listen to your particular pain more closely. You must understand how its presence protects you. As we will see, that extra bit of understanding makes all the difference.
The Next Step
Learn about Clinical Trigger Point Therapy by clicking here.