Experiencing pain in your back?
You should stop moving, right?! You don't want to cause further damage...
WRONG!
Despite what many people believe, experiencing pain does not mean that tissue damage is happening. Especially when that pain is persistent (chronic).
Pain is a protective mechanism in the body, used as a buffer to stop or minimise damage. If we sustain an injury, pain will stop us from continuing whatever activity caused the injury. We can also experience pain when the body feels it is in danger of sustaining injury, but no damage has yet occured - like a warning system.
Hurt DOESN'T mean harm
Our bodies and tissues, including in our back, are incredibly strong and resilient. The body's ability to produce pain can send out signals in advance of any damage taking place as a protective function, giving us a buffer zone between feeling pain, and actually causing or furthering damage. Unfortunately in cases where pain persists, this protective system can become hyper vigilant, sending out pain signals much further in advance of any damage occurring and widening this buffer zone. As a result, this pain no longer serves a protective function and can become unhelpful as it may cause sufferers to avoid ANY movements that may trigger the pain, thus reinforcing this hyper vigilant pain system.
(C) Image from NOI Group - Explain Pain - http://www.explainpain.org/
By participating in gentle movement and mobility exercises, we can start to retrain this hyper vigilant system to dial down the sensitivity and help the brain and nervous system to stay calm and avoid sending out pain signals so far in advance of any potential damage.
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