medalrehab

How To Kinesiology Helps Chronic Pain

Almost everyone I come across is in some form of pain. Some are acute, but the vast majority are long-term conditions. Many people with chronic pain have a history of auto accidents, osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, fibromyalgia, or the recovery from a total hip or knee replacement surgery. Using the Kinesiology in Abbotsford, it appears that chronic pain has two components that must be addressed:

Address the pain by telling the person to do exercises that will improve their strength and range of motion. This will fix the pain and get to the root of the problem.
Deal with the guarding and adjusting that has come about because of the pain and is making more pain.

In this post, I’ll talk about the second thing on the list. Number two is often the thing that stops people from making progress; it’s the ball and chain that keeps them in their pain state. It goes beyond the injury or trauma that may have caused the pain in the first place. It’s a state of behavior with both conscious and unconscious parts. Getting past this barrier is by far the hardest part of working with clients because no two people with chronic pain heal in the same way. Some of the overall behaviors are the same for everyone, but the way to stop each person is different.

Our nervous system is trainable. Our nervous system is adaptable. Yes, pain can be trained in very easily; BUT, it can also be trained out!

If you deal with chronic pain, know this:
1) Your pain is real
2) Your pain is treatable- often through movement

There is a lot of information out there. Consistent exercise can help you lose weight, improve your heart health, build muscle, and get in shape. But what is it about exercise that makes the pain go away? We know it makes the pain go away, but why? How?
Brain and Behavior
In the last 20 years, there has been a lot of great research on the brain and nervous system. In the last 10 years, researchers and professionals have made a lot of progress in understanding how we act, how our bodies work, and especially how we feel pain. Studies are finding that instead of focusing on how the brain sends and receives messages to explain pain, the brain can be mapped to the physical parts of the body in a certain area. These areas take in information and can send information out. When something is touched on the lower leg, the “lower leg region” of the brain map will light up and respond. That route works like a well-oiled machine and is very efficient. When the same parts of our brain keep getting such strong, effective input, they look for nearby parts that are getting less stimulation and take over their air time. Yes, if there is a lot of information coming in through the lower leg, it will look at the knee or ankle and move into that area. The message “spills over,” in other words. What will happen because of this? The pain a person feels will start in the lower leg and “refer” to the upper or lower parts of the body near that area. This remapping, which happens at a high centre in the chain of nerves, has helped explain referred pain and phantom limb pain. I think it shows a lot about how to deal with long-term pain.

Now, let’s think about other parts of the brain. There are parts that control mood, emotions, urges hunger, and sleep. The signals are so strong and effective for the person with chronic pain that they can affect these other areas. Pain signals from the body can cause pain in other parts of your health, like feelings (like depression) or sleep (that doesn’t go as planned). This signal can also work the other way around. Studies have shown that emotional pain can translate into physical pain. A part of the brain map can become so efficient with stimulation that it starts to be opportunistic and take over the brain tissue occupying or representing a physical part of the body, like the back or shoulders. We provide the best or complete Kinesiology in Abbotsford at an affordable price.

What can we learn from this? Our nervous system is trainable. Our nervous system is adaptable.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.