I get pain on the run
Chronic Pain is a curious thing.
Swearing can reduce pain ….. unless you swear a lot already. Wearing googles that make the painful bit look further away can change the pain experience, saying “that” pain instead of “this” or “my” pain can reduce pain. Even using the word “pain” (or ouch, hurt, jabbing, searing) can prime the brain’s pain centres and increase the pain response. Fear of pain or damage will ironically have your brain ‘protect’ you by turning on pain. There has even been lots of work done on the role music plays in pain relief. It even has its own name – music induced analgesia.
Chronic pain sufferers often feel at ITS mercy however I would suggest that it is more useful to see it as a fickle response. A response that can be at the mercy of US and what we do – our language, beliefs, emotions, expectations, memory, attention.
Get the upper hand on pain by understanding how it can be at your mercy. It turns the table on pain and gets us to look at what we can do to take charge.
A client told me the other day – “I used to get pain on my run. Now I have IT on the run”.
