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How to Heal Chronic Pain
Learn the foundations of pain science and why understanding pain reduces the threat level and is essential to healing.
The Big Three and the Key to Unlocking the Mystery
When the body experiences a stressor, such as an injury, illness, or trauma, the immune system, nervous system, and endocrine system all work together to defend against threat and bring the body back into homeostasis. These three systems are interdependent and act as one supersystem, so anything that affects one will affect all three.
This means that healing the nervous system will naturally bring both the immune system and the endocrine system back into balance and vice versa. It is also why persistent pain often progresses into autoimmune and/or endocrine disorders, and why these conditions can be so difficult to manage.
It’s Really Not A Mystery
I used the word mysterious because most of the people who come to see me don’t understand why they are in pain, and their doctors often don’t understand either, but I don’t think it is a mystery at all. Pain is not just the result of injury. Pain is an alert from the body warning of potential danger.
What part of the body is responsible for responding to danger? The sympathetic nervous system.
Trust Your Gut
Did you know that your gut has its own nervous system, called the enteric nervous system, that is kind of like a second brain? The enteric nervous system has as many nerve cells as the spinal cord, and in collaboration with the gut microbiome, produces neurotransmitters that influence mood, immune function, hormone release, digestion, and pain. The enteric nervous system and the brain communicate with each other via the vagus nerve about things like nausea, hunger, fullness, emotion, discomfort, and danger. In other words, the gut and the brain are interconnected, which is why can get a stomachache when we are stressed, or get anxious when we are constipated. It is also why our digestion is affected when we are in pain, and why supporting a healthy gut is important in unraveling persistent pain.
Understanding pain
Pain is your nervous system’s response to the perception of threat. The first step to reducing pain is understanding it. Explaining pain reduces the perception of threat, which reduces pain. As pain comes down, function improves. The next step is to figure out your triggers, and build up your toolbox to help you manage those triggers. As you balance your life, you will start to balance your pain.