One of the most heartbreaking aspects of living with ongoing pain is that it’s often not taken seriously. It’s a common misconception that pain is all in your head. Too often, people in pain are told, “it’s all in your head,” “you look fine“, or, “you’re laughing, so it can’t be that bad.”
Category Archives: Pain Management
Chronic pain and trauma
Trauma and chronic pain often coexist because sometimes, people with persistent pain also have an untreated or complex trauma history. Pain is our body’s danger detection system, making the body and mind more sensitive, and trauma changes the brain.
Persistent Pain is a genuine condition
Pain is the primary reason people go to the doctor, but 1 in 3 general practitioners (GPs) reports feeling “unprepared” to treat pain. While this may frustrate you, it’s not their fault because, like most healthcare professionals (HCPs), we receive little or no training around the pain that doesn’t go away as expected during our […]
Inflammatory back pain explained.
Low back pain is tricky; frustratingly, even for the most highly trained, experienced practitioners aided by imaging, knowing the exact cause of someone’s pain is often impossible. Hence, people leave consultations clutching the non-specific low back (NSLP) diagnosis and sometimes with unanswered questions. NSLP is categorised into three subtypes: acute, sub-acute and chronic, and means […]
Raynaud’s explained
Most of us will have experienced numbness or tingling in our fingers after getting a tub of ice cream out of the freezer or when it’s really cold outside. For most folks, this is a short-lived unpleasant experience.
Pain, why does it hurt so much?
Physical pain is essential to the human experience; it’s the body’s protective alarm system. It’s a subjective experience that is challenging to convey to others. Especially if there are no obvious outward clues, our ability to tolerate pain is as individual as our fingerprints and shaped by many factors: genetics, previous pain experiences and our […]
Do you understand the “core”?
The “core” is scientifically called the lumbopelvic-hip complex (LPHC). It’s everything our head, arms and legs attach too, the torso or trunk of the body. Most often its acts as a stabiliser and force transfer, yet people focus on training it in isolation as a prime mover, with exercises like sit-ups, crunches, and planks. If […]
Fibromyalgia explained
Fibromyalgia is a mysterious long-term condition involving widespread chronic pain without a known cause; it’s more frustrating than a diagnosis. Some people will eventually discover a specific reason. Still, most times, the condition appears triggered by a physically stressful event, such as an injury, infection or having a baby. Or an emotional upset, such as […]
Pain management, ways forwards
The previous post, “pain what’s really going on?” looked at pain from a medical and scientific point of view to understand how pain can be categorised, the variety of words to describe pain, and the regular healing times, which may help people avoid slipping into persistent or chronic states. This post will look at current best […]
Pain, what’s really going on?
Pain is tricky; it can be a valuable and potentially life-saving protection mechanism. You only have to touch something unexpectedly hot to appreciate that the resulting OUCH was helpful because it made you pull your hand away and prevent possible further injury. But what exactly is pain?