3 Pillars to Treating Pain

How do you treat pain? Adriaan Louw talks about these three pillars of treating persistent pain: education, movement, and calming the nervous system. 

Education: Pain occurs in the brain, but so do your thoughts. The brain can quickly be changed. Knowing what pain is and how to influence it can make a big difference in your outlook and thoughts.

"The brain has 125,000 miles of wiring that is replaced every 3 weeks." - Adriaan Louw. The brain can rewrite a portion of itself every 15-20 minutes. That's neuroplasticity.

Learn how to change your brain. 

Our brain has a map of our body. You know that your hand is your hand, your foot is your foot. If you can identify these body parts, your brain can update its map. But if your brain cannot identify its own body parts, it sets off its alarm system and can produce a pain response.  So what happens when you stop or reduce moving due to casts, surgery, or painful joints, etc? How can your brain pay attention to parts that aren't moving?  How does it identify them? By moving them. 

Movement:

"The single biggest painkiller on Earth is movement...If you break your arm today and we take you to the emergency room, they're gonna give you 2-3 mg of morphine to set your arm and put a cast on it. A 6 mile run produces 10 mg morphine in the brain." - Adriaan Louw.

Can't run 6 miles? Yeah, me neither. But the point is, movement produces pain relieving chemicals in the brain that can help manage your pain. 

 Calm the Nervous System: This is largely self care. Mindfulness, Relaxation, Breathing, Nutrition, Sleep Hygiene. A healthy lifestyle can help calm the nervous system. Don't underestimate how much these basics can help reduce your pain. 

Need help working on one of these pillars? Talk with a physical therapist who can work with you to tackle these steps, bit by bit. 

Thank you to Adriaan Louw and the PT Pintcast Podcast for inspiring this post. Go give their podcast a listen. It's fantastic! (Episode released on June 30th, 2021)