Pain is meant to be an alarm system – not a disease process. Learning to self-soothe and calm your nervous system is one of the most important tasks required to shift pain back to a warning signal.
How do we shrink those pain maps? We don’t need to be a brain scientist! We have access to the brain - we can create and effect changes in our brains and our lives through repetitive thoughts of reducing the pain, soothing emotions and sensations, and comforting beliefs. The thinking brain makes decisions based on sensory input. We can use our eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin. Sensations come from billions of receptors in skin, muscle, bones, and joints.
Vision, scent, touch, sound, movement, spirituality, kindness and love all directed at changing the brain allow us to change cells, genes, molecules, anatomy, physiology and circuits. It shifts the balance away from unrelenting pain to normal brain function.
Flood the brain with other input during pain flares.
Thoughts: opposition to pain, no pain.
Images: pleasant imagery, visualization.
Sensation: touch, temperature, pressure, auditory, visual, olfactory and taste.
Memories: pleasant and soothing.
Calming emotions: mindfulness, peaceful, serenity.
Movement: or thought of movement.
Repeat positive mantras: "I am not my pain."
Think happy thoughts! “This won’t last forever.”
We have much more power than ever believed to influence our physical and mental realities!
I hope you enjoyed this interesting byte of pain science and that it helps change how you think about your pain!
Sue AnnThis PAIN BYTE is adapted from "Neuroplastic Transformation", by Michael H. Moskowitz, MD and Marla D. Golden, DO