Find Balance & Thrive

Pain Science

If you are like me, when you first started getting headaches, you determined that the source of that pain was at that spot in your head. This is quite reasonable to assume.

What we know now about pain is that it is Biopsychosocial. That is, influenced by things biological (sleep, nutrition, hormones, inflammation), things social (who is around you, your culture, your social world at large), and things psychological (thoughts, feelings, beliefs about the pain).

Have you ever had a migraine yet valued an activity so much that you were able to ignore your pain and do that activity?

Or had a migraine and started talking to someone, and then your migraine was worse?

That is hopeful, because we can learn to turn down the volume on pain sensations and turn up the volume on pleasurable ones.

Neuroplasticity

Your brain is an amazing pattern detection machine, taking in sensations and making them into signals. Signals designed to ensure your survival. Normally a pain signal from an acute injury like breaking your ankle means, "hey, stop doing that" or "don't do that again!"  Move your body or stop moving so it ends!

After all, your brain is just group of cells living in the dark box of your skull trying to make sense of its sensory environment.

What is truly incredible about the brain is that new connections can be made every time a pattern is changed "just the right amount," and with repeated experiences.

This doesn't mean that migraines are your fault. It is well-established that migraines have a genetic component as can be related to injury. However the hopeful part is that YOU have the power to impact the course of your pain and change your overall well being.

This is how we can learn to turn down the dial on pain volume, and have more better days.