5 min
Health & Fitness Friday - Chronic Pain Changes Your Brain The Essential Strength Podcast
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- Health & Fitness
Today we’re continuing our conversation about pain, and in particular today we’re talking about how it literally changes your brain.
Because the experience of chronic pain is associated with multiple networks of the central nervous system, it is actually classified as a Central Nervous System Disorder with sensory, cognitive, emotional and behavioral elements.
Long story short, the brain is a complex and interconnected structure - in the case of pain, the areas of the brain responsible for interpreting the messages coming from other areas of the body are connected with the areas responsible for our emotions and motivation - these areas cannot be separated, which is why people often have an emotional response to pain. And chronic pain appears to change these connections. For example, several studies of people with persistent or chronic back pain have found increased functional connectivity between the prefrontal cortex (one of the pain perception centers) and the areas responsible for emotion, motivation and reward-related behaviors. These areas work together to “encode” painful experiences, and over time may be partly responsible for chronic pain being associated with specifically emotion states or trouble controlling emotions as they relate to pain.
That is a lot of science - I want to come back up to the surface and translate this into something actionable for each of you:
DON’T LET A NAGGING INJURY OR ISSUE TURN INTO A CHRONIC PAIN CONDITION!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to patients, friends or family members about a pain they’re experiencing - this is a common topic at every get together since I got my degree - and the conversation goes something like - “Oh, it’s not that bad, I’ve been dealing with this pain for a couple years now.”
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE THAT!
I can promise you this - it’s a a helluva lot easier to fix a joint that’s not moving right than it is to undue to cascade of negative effects that chronic pain has on your brain. Your back pain isn’t isolated to your back - it’s impacting your mood, your motivation, your temper, your mental health. Why? Because your back bone is connected to your brain bone by a little thing called your nervous system - and once that nervous system get’s involved, treatment gets a whole lot more complicated.
Alright, getting off my soap box now.
If you are interested in looking at the research on this topic, this article is a good place to start: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6650904/
If you want to learn more about everything from sleep to squats and from how to strengthen your core to tips fro making your mind more resilient - check out The Reading List from Stronger In Motion
Catch ya’ll next week.
FNX FitnessSupplements To Fuel Your Greatness -
- Use code ESSENTIAL for 20% at check-outBarbell RehabImprove your ability to coach and modify the barbell lifts.
Code "stronger25" for $25 any course!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Today we’re continuing our conversation about pain, and in particular today we’re talking about how it literally changes your brain.
Because the experience of chronic pain is associated with multiple networks of the central nervous system, it is actually classified as a Central Nervous System Disorder with sensory, cognitive, emotional and behavioral elements.
Long story short, the brain is a complex and interconnected structure - in the case of pain, the areas of the brain responsible for interpreting the messages coming from other areas of the body are connected with the areas responsible for our emotions and motivation - these areas cannot be separated, which is why people often have an emotional response to pain. And chronic pain appears to change these connections. For example, several studies of people with persistent or chronic back pain have found increased functional connectivity between the prefrontal cortex (one of the pain perception centers) and the areas responsible for emotion, motivation and reward-related behaviors. These areas work together to “encode” painful experiences, and over time may be partly responsible for chronic pain being associated with specifically emotion states or trouble controlling emotions as they relate to pain.
That is a lot of science - I want to come back up to the surface and translate this into something actionable for each of you:
DON’T LET A NAGGING INJURY OR ISSUE TURN INTO A CHRONIC PAIN CONDITION!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to patients, friends or family members about a pain they’re experiencing - this is a common topic at every get together since I got my degree - and the conversation goes something like - “Oh, it’s not that bad, I’ve been dealing with this pain for a couple years now.”
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE THAT!
I can promise you this - it’s a a helluva lot easier to fix a joint that’s not moving right than it is to undue to cascade of negative effects that chronic pain has on your brain. Your back pain isn’t isolated to your back - it’s impacting your mood, your motivation, your temper, your mental health. Why? Because your back bone is connected to your brain bone by a little thing called your nervous system - and once that nervous system get’s involved, treatment gets a whole lot more complicated.
Alright, getting off my soap box now.
If you are interested in looking at the research on this topic, this article is a good place to start: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6650904/
If you want to learn more about everything from sleep to squats and from how to strengthen your core to tips fro making your mind more resilient - check out The Reading List from Stronger In Motion
Catch ya’ll next week.
FNX FitnessSupplements To Fuel Your Greatness -
- Use code ESSENTIAL for 20% at check-outBarbell RehabImprove your ability to coach and modify the barbell lifts.
Code "stronger25" for $25 any course!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
5 min