By now if you’ve been following me or the progression of my career and interests you probably have some inkling that pain exists to protect us; much like the reverse sensors on your car or the smoke alarm in your house. We evolved with this complex protective system to alert us to threats in our environment and to promote healing and recovery. This system evolved when lives were much simpler, and the threats in our world were much more acute eg. Kill or be killed.
Chronic pain, and the emergence of other protective factors are a blessing and a curse. Your smoke alarm is going off all day and night. Your reverse sensors never stop screaming at you. Like these, it is ineffective to just ignore your pain or try to suppress it with positive thinking. The sensation is very real, and can be very, very disabling.
So why is it becoming such an epidemic issue? Why am I seeing hundreds of patients a month with pain that is disproportionately intense or chronic for the injury? Why do people have constant tension in their muscles? Why do patients with chronic pain also often have episodes of IBS, TMD, migraines, neuropathy, unrefreshing sleep and other unexplained symptoms?
Sarno described it first as Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) but the phenomena has also been called Mindbody syndrome (MBS), Psychosomatic syndrome, Nociplastic Pain, chronic non-specific mechanical pain, and most recently Pain System Hypersensitivity. Each researcher or physician is building on and rebranding the same concepts – that pain is a protective response, and that the body’s protective mechanisms (including pain, musculoskeletal tension, hyper-sensitivity, insomnia, anxiety etc.) are becoming increasingly hyper-vigilent in a world that is feeling less safe. I’m not eluding specifically to political unrest, though that can be a significant trigger to many people, but to lifestyles in general that have become over-stimulating and not prioritising restorative and nourishing rest.
It is not a priority of your system to heal, sleep, digest or reproduce if there are threats around. An animal is more likely to evade danger if it is more alert to threats, and then more likely to be able to reproduce and pass those beneficial anxious traits on. Your protective system does not care if you are happy or comfortable; it is a clever evolutionary process designed to keep you alive so you can pass your genes into the next generation.
In an ever more complex world, with increasing stimulants and worries, your body is doing the best it knows how to protect you. Learn about the context of your pain (and other symptoms designed to safeguard you).
The Body Keeps The Score – Bessel van der Kolk
Why Does It Still Hurt – Dr Paul Biegler
Back In Control – Dr David Hanscom
The Way Out – Alan Gordan
