This is a question we get asked quite often as chiropractors. You may have even heard us talk about that one little movement being, “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” But that doesn’t really explain why the pain sticks around, or why you never really felt back to 100% after the initial pain went away. So today, we will be looking at what chronic spinal pain is, and how it changes more than just the spine.
What is chronic pain?
Chronic pain is pain that has been around for more than 6 months, or pain that sticks around long after the initial healing process should have finished. This can be very frustrating and leave people wondering why they can’t heal and wondering if they will ever get back to how they used to feel. Or if they will be able to enjoy the things they love again.
Why does it happen in the first place?
The power of the brain/body connection, and your body’s amazing ability to work in the background to resolve issues that pop up in life every day. If you think back to a time when you sprained your ankle or a wrist or another joint of some kind, your body locked it down. Your brain sent the messages to the troops to protect that joint so it can heal and make pain signals to warn you that something isn’t right. The issue with chronic pain comes when your brain doesn’t want to calm down and take things off lockdown. In fact, the brain gets more sensitive when it comes to those pain signals mentioned earlier. And that amazing ability to heal has now hit a roadblock of stress and trauma that won’t let the good signals through anymore.
Why does chronic pain happen in the first place?
The power of the brain/body connection, and your body’s amazing ability to work in the background to resolve issues that pop up in life every day. If you think back to a time when you sprained your ankle or a wrist or another joint of some kind, your body locked it down. Your brain sent the messages to the troops to protect that joint so it can heal and make pain signals to warn you that something isn’t right. The issue with chronic pain comes when your brain doesn’t want to calm down and take things off lockdown. In fact, the brain gets more sensitive when it comes to those pain signals mentioned earlier. And that amazing ability to heal has now hit a roadblock of stress and trauma that won’t let the good signals through anymore.
How do I get over this if it’s my brain that is involved? Don’t you all just “pop” joints?
Your adjustments are a great way to facilitate that recovery from chronic pain! Recently, there were studies done that showed that regular adjustments changed the chemistry of the brain and had a direct impact on your brain/body connection. We work in our office to remove the roadblock and allow the body to do what it does best. We are also addressing the old injury and removing that extra stress that is causing your brain to be on high alert for pain. The combination of these things leads chronic pain patients to have less pain and improve their ability to function in everyday life! We also include therapies and exercises to re-train your body/brain to do safer movements, which greatly reduces the risk of people’s pain coming back how it was when we first saw them.
