The majority of people come and see us because they are in pain and want a diagnosis and a plan to get better. Pain is frustrating and it can be scary, particularly because you don’t know what is going on. It can also make you grumpy. Are you going to be ok? Do you have arthritis? Will you be able to make the start line? 
 
We now know that two people's experiences of the same pain, even if that pain is at the same level, can be perceived completely differently. How do we know this? Functional MRI studies of the brain have given us a lot of those answers.
 
When people experience pain, a multitude of areas in the brain light up at the same time. Areas responsible for past experiences, beliefs etc. An example would be someone that has never had back pain before. They overdo it at work and have no previous frame of reference for why they are in pain. They are optimistic in their recovery and just want to get back to work. But if you compare this to someone who had a similar back pain injury, but this person had back surgery and took two years’ off work to recover, there would be huge differences in their pain perception. The level of threat, past experience and anxiety would be vastly different between the two. There would be differences not only in the perceived outcome, or path to healing, but the pain levels would arguably be enhanced in the second version because of past experiences. 
 
Combine this with the fact that most tissue injuries should resolve within 3 months, but if they don’t - the brain has an even bigger effect on someone's pain perception levels.
 
So, given pain is the most common problem people come to see us. What are some things all of us could do today to reduce pain?
 
Here are a few tips
 
Sleep More: People who sleep less than 6 hours are far more likely to experience higher levels of pain. Sleeping 6 hours or less tends to overload the sympathetic fright or flight part of the nervous system. This leads to a real increase in pain. 
 
A question I commonly ask people is “How much sleep do you get?” For patients that have high levels of pain for prolonged periods the quickest way to reduce pain is to get a good night sleep.

If you want to know more about good sleep hygiene check out a blog I wrote about in the past HERE. 

See what a consistent evening routine does to your pain levels.

Meditate or spend time in nature: Again anything you can do to get you into the parasympathetic nervous system response is crucial . There are so many amazing meditation apps now that it really is impossible to come up with a decent excuse not to. If you can’t find 5 minutes in your day to put some headphones in and press play you are doing something wrong 

Calm, headspace and aura all have amazing pain relief meditations. I’m currently using Aura as it has hypnotherapy, life coaching and breath work for the same price as calm or headspace. 

Reduce inflammatory load on your system: This is a great tip from our Waiheke Island physio Nadia. Removing sugar from your diet and reducing your caffeine can really reduce your inflammatory load. A reduction of inflammatory markers in your body means a reduction in pain. Another great tip to reduce inflammation is to do a minimum of 40 minutes of non fasted cardio in the morning. This could be as simple as going for a 45 minute walk every morning on an empty stomach with the dog. 

Mobilize your body 

Moving our body through a full range of motion (or as close to possible) is very important. Essentially “move it or lose it”. Our Physio Matt Barker believes in a rounded approach to improving mobility. This includes static stretching, dynamic stretching and rolling with a ball or roller. Mobility is for everyone, you don’t need to be an elite athlete to gain benefits from it. A simple routine is important for desk jockeys or weekend warriors alike as in our day to day lives we perform the same movements over and over again and this can cause tightness in areas that can affect how we move. This can also cause an overload of a system and lead to injury. 

It can enhance our lives so we are in less pain, stiffness and can be more flexible to do what we want in our lives. 

See a Physio earlier to sort a little niggle. A small pain can turn into a big pain but it's always easier for a physio to turn around a small little niggle as opposed to a big debilitating problem. If you want to book an appointment to get your pain levels under control click HERE to see us today to get pain relief fast.