Chronic pain - a new approach

[Jim Pickles]

I have come across a very interesting issue that may be of interest to stretch therapists here (stimulated by reading about pain in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, following the experience of a friend with the syndrome). It is discussed in this video on Youtube (and probably in many other places - this is the one I am working through at the moment; it needs a lot of detailed thought as there is a lot in there):

 

It deals with the issue, that in some cases of chronic pain, it is a "brain pain" problem, otherwise known as centralised pain. In these cases, it is the brain itself that is generating the pain - maybe following an initial trigger in the body such as damage to the spinal cord, or an infection, or inflammation in the brain's glial cells, or maybe just genetics. Unfortunately, the symptoms are general and shared with many other conditions, and include things like general malaise, fatigue, pain in multiple body areas, "brain fog". Pain of this sort needs quite different treatments from other sorts of pain - for instance, morphine may be completely ineffective, yet other drugs devised as anti-convulsants may be effective in stopping the pain. Many doctors will not know about this condition, and provide ineffective treatments.

 

It is quite possible the some people with chronic back pain have pain of this sort. Exercise by the way, can be helpful with this type of pain.

Anyway, I think any one who works with body therapy needs to know about this type of pain (even if they cannot do anything about it), so they can guess what might be happening and refer the patient to an appropriate medical practitioner.

 

Jim.