What I am attempting to do with the information on this page is to help people connect the dots between:

• how pain actually works in everybody (not just you!) as an output of brain /nervous system processing and in every condition (yes – even cancer),
• how actual healing and recovery from pain and injuries doesn’t just rely on the ‘injury’ or physical ‘degeneration’ alone but also on the very powerful ‘mind / body’ connection,
• how standard health systems can ‘help’ you, but how they can also unintentionally ‘harm’ you,
• how other life issues and influences are important in recovery and how this actually works.

So, the 3 summarised take home messages are:

1. Pain is not in reality aligned with ‘damage’. Pain is aligned closely with the perception of the need for PROTECTION.
2. What is said and believed about an injury is far more influential in the outcome than the injury itself.
3. EXPECTATIONS are very important. Best and safest results are obtained when expectations align between all involved in a RE-ADAPTIVE direction.

Here is some more detail:

• Pain is an important protective mechanism, BUT pain CAN and DOES exist or persist even when there is nothing that needs protection. All that is required is a perception that protection is required. And the longer this goes on, the more ‘stuck’ it becomes. The ultimate aim is to end up with the protective pain that is needed and nothing extra. This is reliably possible once pain is properly understood.                                                                                                                                                               
• Pain is generated by the brain. It will be generated reliably when the brain’s perception of ‘danger’ is greater than the perception of ‘safety’. This is the ‘brain’s pain equation’.
  • DANGER =
    • electrical signalling input when present (but remembering this is NOT enough on its own or actually even necessary for pain to be experienced),
    • perception of harm, damage, injury, threat to person or security, including financial security,
    • inconsistent information about what is wrong,
    • the perceived need for something to be ‘fixed’,
    • being told ‘there is nothing wrong with you’ when you are in pain,
    • the pain itself via a negative feedback circuit
    • etc, etc, etc.   
  • SAFETY = perspective, knowledge, reassurance, confidence etc.
    • Unfortunately I can think of many more things that feed into the ‘danger’ than the ‘safety’ side of the equation.                                                                                                                                                                                    
• Please consider that your general health, psychological situation, fatigue levels, stress, poor sleep, the CONTEXT of your injury etc, are inseparably CONNECTED TO YOUR PAIN and, in particular, persistent pain. They are not secondary to the pain as many believe; they are part of it and need to be managed primarily to facilitate the best recovery. This is most effective if you understand your pain properly.                                                                                                                                                  
• Be very aware that unfortunately many in the health system have as yet not adequately realised that WORDS can be as powerful (if not a lot more powerful) than medications, syringes, interventions and surgeries in pain situations. This occurs via what is called the NOCEBO response, which is the opposite of the PLACEBO response. Both result in measurable body changes not just psychological effects. And this can happen to anyone, not just certain types of people.                                                                                                                                                                                                                
• ASK MANY QUESTIONS!! Be an ‘informed health consumer’. Don’t just accept perceived expert opinions as facts. Many experts only provide you with an opinion based on what they have accepted as being true and their own personal opinions based on their experiences. You would be surprised how little solid evidence there is for many of the things you are being advised. You would be amazed at how little many health practitioners still understand about pain apart from simply blaming things seen on scans that also appear commonly in people with no pain as well. That is a bit like seeing the horizon as a line and then believing that the world is flat.
  • NB: One of the very worrying things I have discovered is how little  the great majority of people actually understand about their pain, and yet they are willing to undergo potentially hazardous and pain provoking procedures in a desperate effort to escape their pain. In my opinion, that is not proper ‘informed consent’ especially if the surgery is dangerous and unproven as being directly and truly effective. If you are considering an operation for your pain please take some time to read my blog on this very important topic –