Painbites Blog

Predictable Pain With Movement
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

Predictable Pain With Movement

Do you have a movement that you can predict will cause pain? 

Do you have a part of the body that hurts even without movement that you believe is only due to the structure itself or its position?

Are you open to the idea that you can change any persistent pain or the pattern of it without needing to change the structure you believe to be at fault?

Read on if you are open to that and curious about approaching this process, not through an emotional lens but through logic.

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Say Yes To You
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

Say Yes To You

Here are some words of encouragement after a call with a client. The themes might be relevant to others, so I'm sharing.......

You've had a tough time over the past 18 months and even before that, but what shines through is your ability to recover. You need to create the opportunity for that to happen again, and although you still have some current family stressors, if you could carve out some calmer moments for yourself, you'll see that recovery appears again.

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FAQ: Can I Move?
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

FAQ: Can I Move?

Here’s an example of a frequently asked question about restarting movement when pain is still or has been strongly associated with that movement.

With persistent pain, an understandable but irrational fear can develop, as well as a predictable frustration in the person who has difficulty accessing what should be enjoyable, fun and healthy stress-relieving activities involving movement.

Returning to those activities is achievable but must be approached through a calm, conscious filter of rational safety.

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How Do I Approach Triggers?
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

How Do I Approach Triggers?

As a patient started to recognise triggers to painful situations in her life, she was both fascinated and fearful about approaching this opportunity to address them. The opportunity itself can feel overwhelming when, for so long, there’s been no other option other than to live in the fearful unconscious reactions and the resultant pain that behaviour brings.

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How Can I Feel A Sense Of Ease?
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

How Can I Feel A Sense Of Ease?

When seeking ways to recover from persistent pain, it is easy to forget how practical and straightforward it is to feel a sense of ease. For so long, the norm has been one of discomfort, pain, and doing something to relieve it, and if there are moments of relief, they become filled with nervous anticipation or fear of when that pain may return.

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How Do I Do Somatic Tracking With Movement?
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

How Do I Do Somatic Tracking With Movement?

A patient’s question - Many somatic tracking exercises, meditations, etc., seem to ask you to be comfortable, relax, breathe deeply, focus on the pain, describe it, give it a colour, a shape - breathe into the pain, and show it a white light.

All good EXCEPT, what if you have no pain in a relaxed, non-weight-bearing state, and pain only happens when you’re moving and exercising? It's hard to do the breathing, relaxing thing then. So, are there things you can do when you’re on the move? Apologies if this has been asked a hundred times!

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Why Did I Get My Post-Exercise Pain Flare?
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

Why Did I Get My Post-Exercise Pain Flare?

So, I’ve been improving steadily over the last year and slowly recovering from fourteen years of chronic and severe back pain. I totally ‘get’ the mind-body concepts, and while my improvement is slower than I would like, I have a lot of hope that all will be well one day.

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The Agony Of Mighty Mouse
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

The Agony Of Mighty Mouse

This is how a patient described herself in terms of her intent to push through all things pain. For many, it is a shared perspective in persistent pain that can keep people stuck in a painful pattern. Discerning pain and understanding that having healthy alternatives to our default patterns can be a real game changer. Here are some suggestions presented in this case.

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Explain The Meaning Of The Pain Body To Me.
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

Explain The Meaning Of The Pain Body To Me.

Pain is a concept that many people attempt to describe. Behavioural, philosophical and neuroscientific theories about pain arise, but one spiritual viewpoint of note comes from teacher Eckhart Tolle - Author of The Power of Now and A New Earth.

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Why Pain After Exercise But Not During?
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

Why Pain After Exercise But Not During?

Here’s a question that symbolises the common frustration of those who suffer from persistent pain.

Does anyone else get pain flares after but not during physical exertion?

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How I Recovered From CFS/ME
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

How I Recovered From CFS/ME

Here is a conversation between a couple of people following a podcast with Dr Rangan Chatterjee and Dr Howard Schubiner, discussing the relationship between persistent pain and the neural circuits driving it.

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Trying to Fix The Unfixable
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

Trying to Fix The Unfixable

Overloading themes mirror many situations; grief represents the trauma experienced in this persistent pain cycle. Navigating recovery when you’re last in your queue means exposure to the risk of such pain is high. Here are some words of encouragement from a recent email which may help push you further up that list. 

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I’ve Got Fibromyalgia And Everything Hurts
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

I’ve Got Fibromyalgia And Everything Hurts

I answered a patient with fibromyalgia regarding starting to move when ‘everything hurts’. It may be helpful to others. “I’ve got a question about the movement routine, please. Because I have fibromyalgia, most parts of my body ache/hurt when I move (or don’t move) to varying degrees - do I need to do a movement for every part!?”

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How Do I Push Through Without Pushing Through?
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

How Do I Push Through Without Pushing Through?

When I walk, and it is painful, how do I push through without pushing through? You don’t push. You start to notice when you get the urge to push and ask what emotion drives that. It may be frustrating. It may be because you believe you should. It may be because you judge yourself for not being able to do what you expect of yourself. It could also be because you crave that walk, a stress-reducing activity, and it maddens you that you can’t do it comfortably.

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A Painful Cancer Injection
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

A Painful Cancer Injection

When someone receives an injection for cancer treatment, and someone close to them observes that, where is the pain of that moment? Is the pain in the person with the pain-defining problem or the person observing them?

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Pain, A Match For Us All?
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

Pain, A Match For Us All?

Here’s is an illustration of how one small event can trigger a considerable reaction. For example, seventy thousand fans watch a football match in a stadium. The game has ended in a draw after ninety minutes of normal time and another half hour of extra time, so they are playing out a penalty shootout. The winner takes all. Watch what happens after the following penalty. Pain or pleasure?

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A Helping Hand with Pain
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

A Helping Hand with Pain

When seeking ways to recover from persistent pain, it is easy to forget how practical and straightforward it is to feel a sense of ease. For so long, the norm has been one of discomfort, pain, and doing something to relieve it, and if there are moments of relief, they become filled with nervous anticipation or fear of when that pain may return.

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Pain Going There But Not Coming Back?
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

Pain Going There But Not Coming Back?

Here is a little puzzle for you. See if you can work out why someone would have pain on the way somewhere but not on the way back. I’ll describe this patient's situation and see if you can see why this phenomenon may occur.

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FAQ: When Pain Doesn’t Shift With Somatic Tracking
Drew Coverdale Drew Coverdale

FAQ: When Pain Doesn’t Shift With Somatic Tracking

Here’s a frequently asked question about a technique called somatic tracking:

‘I’ve just listened to a “Tell Me About Your Pain” podcast in which Alan Gordon does somatic tracking with Emily. Because her pain doesn’t move or change with the somatic tracking exercise, he says that’s a sign that she’s too fearful and then he uses another tactic of leaning into positive sensations.’

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