All About Pain
Pain is a universal experience that serves as a vital warning system, alerting us to potential threats and signaling the need for protective actions. While pain is a normal aspect of life, its complexity often leaves individuals grappling with questions about its origins and the best strategies for recovery. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve into the intricacies of pain, exploring its various sources, the role of inflammation, and how individual factors contribute to the experience.
There are many sources of pain, including the muscles, joints, ligaments, nerves, bones, and discs. It can be difficult to isolate the specific cause of pain. But as you will see, pain involves more than tissue damage.
Many Sources of Pain
Pain is not just about physical damage. Here is the official definition from the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP)
“An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.”
Many biological, psychological, and social factors can exacerbate or blunt our pain experience. Our current understanding of pain is referred to as a biopsychosocial model. We don’t simply have ‘pain fibers’ that translate tissue damage into pain. The level of damage does not always correlate with the level of pain we experience either. We need to look at all three dimensions of pain to better understand it. Let’s start with the biological part.
Biological factors influence your pain response
Acute pain has many potential sources and therefore many potential causes. The most common reason is overtaxing the body. A muscle or ligament strain occurs because the body is pushed beyond its capacity. This could be in a single event, such as picking up something heavy or sprinting, or developing over time, such as doing 8 hours of yard work or training for a half-marathon. Understand, that lifting heavy objects, running, and yard work are not inherently dangerous. The body simply wasn’t prepared for the tasks.
Tissue damage is responsible for most acute pain. Following the initial damage, nociceptive fibers (often incorrectly simplified to pain fibers) are stimulated by local inflammation and trigger a pain cascade.
Inflammation is a process the body uses to initiate the repair of damaged tissue. When damage occurs, such as a muscle tear or ligament sprain, the body sends special cells to the area to fix the damage. These cells clean away debris, such as dead tissue, and begin the formation of new tissue. During the process, the area often becomes red, swollen, and warm because more blood and helpful cells are flooding the area. As the new tissue matures and strengthens, the inflammation reduces.
The magnitude and duration of the inflammation is affected by the amount of damage. A more significant tear will cause a greater response but that doesn’t necessarily mean the pain will be more intense or longer lasting. As we see in MRI studies, images, and pain are not always correlated.
Take low back pain as an example. Studies show that 37% of 20-year-olds without spine pain have disc degeneration and 29% have a disc herniation. The numbers jump to 95% and 45% for 80-year-olds.
So some people have pain that aligns with their MRI and some don’t. Why the difference? Our health status can impact the severity and duration of the localized inflammatory response. In physically active adults, the inflammation phase is shorter and less dramatic. Essentially, the body is better at healing. This means the pain experience is often shorter and less intense. We also need to consider the psychosocial factors.
Psychosocial factors influence your pain response
Fear, depression, anxiety, and past painful experiences can make symptoms worse, as well. Conversely, distraction can lessen pain experiences. Our brain receives a lot of information and filters out what’s important. If we focus on something other than the usual pain, the pain might be less or even gone. But if we pay too much attention to the pain, it can get worse. It’s why you see some athletes play through a game with an ankle sprain without feeling the pain. While hormones, such as adrenaline, can play a role, attention and focus matter too. Conversely, if all you do is think about a painful area of your body, the pain will intensify.
How does pain affect your life? Do you feel pain every time you put on your shoes, sit in traffic, pick up your kids, or sneeze aggressively? Our emotional status and history of pain impact our thoughts and actions, affecting the treatment progression.
These factors are why chronic pain is so prevalent and difficult to treat. When we experience pain for a prolonged period — that is, beyond the duration of normal tissue healing — our nervous system is hypersensitive. Other stressors such as poor or insufficient sleep, poor dietary habits, inactivity, and other medical conditions delay recovery. No pill or surgery will address all of the contributing factors.
Talk to Your PT About Your Unique Status and Contributors
Understanding that each person’s experience of pain is unique, it’s essential to engage with a physical therapist to build a personalized recovery plan. By discussing your health status, psychosocial factors, and post-injury activities, you and your physical therapist can work together to navigate a path toward effective pain management and recovery.
In conclusion, pain is a multifaceted phenomenon influenced by various factors. By comprehending its sources, understanding the impact of health status and psychosocial factors, and adopting a tailored recovery plan, individuals can take significant strides toward reclaiming a pain-free life. If pain persists, seeking guidance from a healthcare professional, particularly a physical therapist, can provide invaluable support on the journey to recovery.