Pain is Not Always Related to Damage
Pain is Not Always Related to Damage
Pain comes before and after damage, but it does not indicate how much damage you have sustained.
It is not an indicator that you have sustained any damage or proof that you still have any physical damage.
You can have pain with damage. You can have pain without damage.
Pain is generated in the brain, perceived by the mind, and felt in the body depending on how alarmed your brain is about the situation it perceives itself in. Notice how I said your brain. Well, your brain is your body, and your body is your brain, so don’t assume that I’m saying your pain is in your head.
Brain, Mind and Body Are One
When discussing pain, your brain, mind, and body should be considered one thing. All aspects are relevant when understanding how pain comes and goes.
Your brain processes the information you receive. Your mind perceives that information, and your body expresses that perception.
You feel that experience in your reality.
A Grazed Knee
Suppose we use the example of the child who has just injured themselves by grazing their knee and runs to their parents with that graze. They may be crying and upset with what has happened; they are alarmed by seeing the blood, and they feel the pain associated with what is happening.
The brain is generating this response.
The child is thinking specific thoughts coming from the perception their mind creates.
They are breathing at a fast rate, they are fearful of moving or touching the injured area, and they feel pain in their body.
The Parent’s Role
The parent has usually dealt with a grazed knee before and intuitively knows how to reverse what the child is experiencing.
What they do next should:
Change the response generated by the child’s brain.
Alter the perception of the child’s mind.
Trigger a different expression of that perception in the child’s body.
They look them in the eyes and tell them they will be ok. They might get the child to take a deep breath and then follow with a cascade of information and caring activities to bring that to the child’s reality.
‘But it’s Bleeding!’
‘But it’s bleeding!’ says the child.
The blood is to clean the wound. It needs to bleed a little, as that’s what happens when we cut ourselves. We can help by pressing it for a little while to help it stop.
‘But it stings!’
It will sting because you’ve taken the skin off from tripping in the playground, but we protect that skin as it heals with a plaster. Take a deep breath.
‘What will happen to me?’
Well, you will get a little scab in a week or so, and sometimes you're left with a little scar, but mostly, you won’t even see where it happened once the body has healed. If you have a scar, we all have some scars without any problems. You’re going to be okay.
‘I don’t want to move, it hurts!’
Come on, move it just a little bit, and bend your knee. See. How’s that?
‘It feels a little bit better.’
Now off you go to play with your friends.
‘I don’t want to, but I’m scared.‘
It is natural to feel scared. You’re going to be okay. Off you go.
They help them get up and encourage them to go back to playing with their friends, learning from what has just happened and the responsibility to take care of themselves as they do.
“Pain is not related to damage.
You can have pain without damage and damage without pain.
”
5 minutes later
Now, within 5-10 minutes, how much pain is the child in, and what are they doing?
They are likely running around the playground again with their friends. If you shouted them over and asked about their pain, they’d probably say they had none or very little.
They’d tell you that you kissed it better!!!
If the pain was solely due to the physical damage sustained, then they would still have the same level of damage and should have the same pain, but we all know that they don’t.
That tissue doesn’t heal within 10 minutes, so what has caused the pain to go away?
They changed the state of their Brain, Mind and Body from one state to another.
Different Thoughts, Breathing and Movement
They were given different thoughts to the ones they had when they were in pain and reassured with all the fearful thoughts that they were coming up with.
They were shown how to breathe differently at that moment.
They were encouraged to move that painful limb in a way that they could see was safe, with the support of a caring person to guide them at that moment.
They were gently pushed to take the steps towards their life, to get on with the things they enjoyed, with the help of someone who understood what had happened to them, who they trusted, and who told them it was okay.
They were responsible for looking after themselves with that injury, learning from what caused it and taking that learning with them to calmly protect themselves from the same thing happening again.
They had social connections and care and were listened to. They were advised and given the responsibility to take care of an area of damage if that happened and given the meaning of the pain they were experiencing.
Once they fully understood the meaning of that pain and accepted the responsibility for their conscious protection, their unconscious protection system, expressed as pain, could be reduced or switched off.
A Different Feeling
Look at what we do intuitively with the child in pain. It’s been done to us in this way since the beginning of time in the animal kingdom.
Unfortunately, with persistent pain, we have forgotten how to access these intuitive behaviours to reverse the pain people are experiencing.
Even if there is damage, that can exist in all of us without pain. We all have the potential to heal, and we don’t all have ongoing pain.
If those whose pain exists long after any trauma is over are still thinking those fearful thoughts, they’re still breathing at a faster rate and still frightened to move that body part where their pain is expressed - then the pain is still present.
It’s present in their Brain, Mind and Body.
They think that pain means damage and that repeated thought becomes a belief.
It’s reinforced by themselves and with lots of misinformation from well-meaning medical people, family, and friends they trust.
Recovery is Within Touching Distance
If we could help that person in persistent pain realise the true meaning of their pain, we can unlock the mechanism that can help them become pain-free.
If we could see how simple the process is and how close it is within our reach and be shown how to access that, then persistent pain can be reversed.
You can change your experience of pain.
Change your Brain, Mind and Body with The Pain Habit.
What you can do today:
Socially connect, think different thoughts, develop new beliefs, adopt new behaviours and get a new outcome.
Like The Pain Habit Facebook page or apply to join Private Facebook The Pain Habit Recovery Group to hear how others have reversed their persistent pain.
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Take a step towards your recovery today.
What’s next?
Take Your First Step to Recovery.
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