How does pain "work"
The body doesn’t have pain receptors, it has “intensity” receptors.
The technical term for these receptors is “nociceptors.” If you remember your Latin,
noci- means “to hurt or to harm”
-ception means “to take or to perceive”
So it literally means “the perception of harm” or “the detection of noxious (harmful) stimuli”
Once these nociceptors are stimulated, that signal goes to the spine, then to the brain. There are 4 different things that these receptors can pick up
These nociceptors detect 4 different things:
Mechanical stress and pressure - a hard handshake or a cartoon anvil falling your foot
Temperature changes - relatively extreme hot or cold
Chemical changes - a direct irritant like acid or venom
Inflammatory Nociception - your bodies immune response to injuries
If the signal is strong enough, the spine can decide what to do. This is the classic “reflex arc”
Otherwise the signal gets to the brain. The brain’s single job is to determine
YES this is dangerous
NO this is not
The brain uses a whole bunch of different things to figure this out.
Where are we?
What are we doing?
Has this ever happened before?
How do I feel about this situation or my life situation in general
etc
The brain takes ALL this into account and has milliseconds to determine YES or NO
If the brain decides YES, pain is THE tool the brain uses to alert you to whatever is going on.
How does this help you?
You need to meet your pain with curiosity, not judgement.
Pain is telling you to Do something different
When something hurts, get a sense of WHAT you are doing to develop some context on WHY the brain is perceiving the activity as “noxious”
With injuries, the pain is usually going to be from stimulating mechanical and/or inflammatory receptors. So you are either
not strong enough
your technique is wrong
inflammation is present (chronic or acute)
So, all we have to do is ADDRESS the above and you can be pain free.
Remember to move today
Bengal