Osteopathy and Chronic pain
Pain is a complicated topic. Most people will encounter pain throughout their lives, and their subjective experiences of it will differ.
The pathway in (and out) of chronic pain can be identified. Often it can start with a childhood incident, after which the brain learns to enter a protective mode, where the “alarm” system becomes sensitised. The nervous system is activated and triggers a physiological response for “flight” or “fight” (sympathetic nervous system response).
Childhood health scares (surgeries, fractures, impactful diagnoses) can also impact on how the nervous system is enrolled to cope with fear (amygdala activity) and lead to the catastrophising of pain.
When an overprotective nervous system meets everyday stress of adulthood, we may see physical symptoms like headaches, gastrointestinal upsets, muscle tensionand rapid heart rate.
Major life events (traumatic events, relationship changes,death of a loved one, financial shifts, housing stress, abusive relationships) can also trigger physical symptoms.
An overactive nervous system can reach a tipping point where we start to see a cycle of chronic pain symptoms. These might include fatigue, back pain, migraines and ongoing pain from injury.
The neural system is considered to be “plastic” in nature. It is able to change and be adaptable. Once it learns to activate a certain symptom, it becomes easier to activate it repetitively. This in turn may lead to further brain and behavioural changes. The brain may begin to become more protective, detecting danger and triggering a neural response even when there is no danger present. The happy chemicals are accessed less as fear and vigilance grow. This is when other aspects of life are affected. It may lead to changes in physical activity, sociability, relationships and mental health.
The human body has the inherent capacity to recover. By increased knowledge, and using the rational brain (particularly the pre-frontal cortex), we can specifically and actively rewire how we perceive “pain”, establishing new neural pathways to gain a different perspective on well being.
Osteopaths are ideally placed to assist in the recognition and treatment of chronic pain. They use a variety of techniques to address the multi-sytemic layers of the body, including the musculoskeletal, neural, lymphatic and cardiovascular components, to deal with the site of pain, areas of referred pain and compensatory measures that have been adopted. They can identify the overactivity of the nervous system and “desensitise” its response by means of a manual, hands on, approach.By understanding the “pain science” they can suggest further science backed techniques for optimising health outcomes.
