What is Neuroplastic Pain?
Neuroplastic pain refers to chronic pain resulting from the brain misinterpreting signals rather than structural issues in the body. Before considering pain to be neuroplastic, it’s crucial to rule out physiological causes. Misdiagnosing pain can lead to ineffective treatments and prolonged suffering.
The Psychological Impact of Chronic Pain
When you are suffering with long-term pain you are often preoccupied with it – anxious rumination and endless treatment cycles without lasting relief. This highlights the psychological toll chronic pain can take, which can perpetuate the pain cycle.
Importance of a Proper Diagnosis
You might have had hip and groin pain for months and conclude that your pain is non-structural. However, without a robust assessment to rule out things like arthritis or fracture you risk mismanaging your symptoms which could be treated with a conventional medical model. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you make sure you rule out physical causes for your pain before concluding pain is neuroplastic.
Challenges with Misinterpreted Pain Signals
The brain can misinterpret safe body signals as dangerous, leading to chronic pain. These realizations are like the mind-blowing scene from “The Matrix,” where understanding the true nature of your pain can shift your perception.
Somatic Tracking, part of Pain Reprocessing Therapy: A Breakthrough Technique
Part of pain Reprocessing Therapy is somatic tracking. it’s as a combination of mindfulness, safety reappraisal, and positive affect induction which is a technique to induce positive emotions. this helps to reframe pain signals as non-threatening, thus reducing fear and pain.
One Simple Tool that can Help to Reduce Pain.
Often when in pain we speak harshly to ourselves, quite unlike how we might speak to a close friend or loved one. One effective way to change your internal state is to begin speaking more slowly, purposefully and kindly to yourself. This lowers anxiety and can be helpful to manage pain better.
Research and Evidence-Based Results
The Boulder Study on Chronic Back Pain led to promising results for neuroplastic pain treatment. Patients receiving treatment showed significant pain reduction, with 66% being pain-free or nearly pain-free post-treatment. These findings hint at a potential shift in chronic pain treatment paradigms.
Characteristics of Neuroplastic Pain
Understanding these traits can help identify neuroplastic pain:
- Pain onset during periods of stress without preceding injury.
- Inconsistent or spreading pain.
- Pain associated with fear, hyper-vigilance, anxiety, or depression.
Conclusion: All Pain is Real
I would like to end this blog by quoting “Harry Potter,”
Harry, ‘Is this all real? Or is it happening just inside my head?’
Dumbledor, ‘Of course it’s all happening inside your own head Harry, but why on earth should that mean it’s not real?’
This emphasizes that all pain is real as it’s processed similarly in the brain, whether structural or neuroplastic. With practical strategies like somatic tracking and mindfulness, there’s hope for those dealing with chronic pain to find relief and reprogram how they perceive pain.
Take the Next Step
If you’re dealing with chronic pain and traditional methods haven’t alleviated your symptoms, it might be time to explore the concept of neuroplastic pain.
Consider booking in an introductory call with me to see how I might be able to help.
