Study Pain reprocessing therapy for chronic pain

[Rose White]

Read about this study where researchers taught people that the source of their chronic back pain could be a brain process rather than compressed discs, arthritis, weak muscles, etc. Pain research had already shown that while injuries may cause the initial pain that certain cells not related to pain can get stuck firing. By helping people think about their pain differently, as originating in their brains and not their backs, over half the participants experienced pain reduction and even elimination. Instead of using the language of skeletomuscular system to describe their pain they used words like “fear”, “anxiety”, and “neural pathway.” The researchers think that shift in understanding reduces fear and avoidance, which can weaken pain pathways and promote pain-reducing activities such as socializing and exercise. Sounds a lot like what we call rewiring in the therapeutic process.

Understanding that chronic back pain originates from within the brain could lead to quicker recovery, a new study finds

An intriguing therapy that shifts what people perceive as the source of their pain could aid in pain management.

theconversation.com

 

[Friday]

I’ve been in and out of pain therapy for decades. Always got highest marks in it, but being an athlete trains the exact same kind of disassociation.

 

[Roland]

Yeah, I completely believe this. I think undealt with trauma and emotions are often stored in the body physically. But when you try to explain that to people they look at you like you’re nuts.

There’s charts like this that show where exactly trauma and emotions get stored: https://www.google.com/search?q=emo...e-mobile&ie=UTF-8#vhid=dhcvclut2v3ZNM&vssid=l

There’s studies that link unresolved trauma and emotions to chronic illness: Trauma and Chronic Illness - Khiron Clinics.

THEN, there’s people that have cured physical illnesses through visualization: Can you imagine cancer away?.

When you think about it, ptsd includes chronic visualization of stories of pain (flashbacks), like what if to disrupt the cycle is to change the narrative?

 

[Aprilshowers]

Thank you for this article. My husband and I have been discussing it over our morning coffee. I need to find out more about this.

 

[Roland]

Thank you for this article. My husband and I have been discussing it over our morning coffee. I need to find out more about this.

Aw, I love that.

Yeah, it’s a series of ideas I’ve seen and thought about for years. I really think it’s true, your mind runs everything, for better and worse.

 

[Weemie]

I've been in chronic pain since I was 14 and no amount of "it's just in your head" has ever reduced it even minutely, let alone eliminated it. You can also plainly see when I have a flare-up that the nerves in my leg are being activated by causing swelling, flushing etc.

I have studied neurology for a long time, the process of chronic pain is foundationally not based on evolutionary logic. It is a deficit of nociceptors continuing to fire after the threat has subsided, which we have known about for over 20 years.

Unfortunately this knowledge does not actually assist a majority of pain patients (of whom I've known dozens upon dozens) and I would be curious to actually see the back-bone/guts of this study and groups they utilized as controls to determine this fantasy that "over half" of participants get over their pain once they learn about how it works.

I would say most chronic pain patients who have been through physical therapy and pain management therapy are aware of this factor, but for people who have mechanical injuries it is not as simple as willpowering it away. My guess is that a lot more of these guys really did have psychosomatic pain.

 

[Roland]

I've been in chronic pain since I was 14 and no amount of "it's just in your head" has ever reduced it even minutely, let alone eliminated it. You can also plainly see when I have a flare-up that the nerves in my leg are being activated by causing swelling, flushing etc.

I have studied neurology for a long time, the process of chronic pain is foundationally not based on evolutionary logic. It is a deficit of nociceptors continuing to fire after the threat has subsided, which we have known about for over 20 years.

Unfortunately this knowledge does not actually assist a majority of pain patients (of whom I've known dozens upon dozens) and I would be curious to actually see the back-bone/guts of this study and groups they utilized as controls to determine this fantasy that "over half" of participants get over their pain once they learn about how it works.

I would say most chronic pain patients who have been through physical therapy and pain management therapy are aware of this factor, but for people who have mechanical injuries it is not as simple as willpowering it away. My guess is that a lot more of these guys really did have psychosomatic pain.

Yeah, I don’t look at it as black and white. Some chronic pain and illnesses is rooted in trauma and emotional issues but some is physical. I think some physical issues are developed after years of stored up emotion/trauma. I also don’t think you could study this very accurately because it has to do with mindset, and some people are going to just “go through the motions” and some are going to embrace it wholeheartedly (not saying that’s all there is to it) and then there’s placebo effect “I visualize and now I feel better” forgetting that they also are in therapy, receiving other kinds of treatment, etc at the same time. I just think about some cases where it was documented like the person had cancer, they used visualization and their cancer disappeared. Like it’s enough to make you think twice about it.

 

[Sideways]

By helping people think about their pain differently, as originating in their brains and not their backs,

The leading pain clinic in the state I live in has been using mindfulness as one of the strategies for managing chronic pain for over a decade now. There are studies that support its role in pain management, so this sounds about right to me.

 

[Rose White]

Some chronic pain and illnesses is rooted in trauma and emotional issues but some is physical

My understanding is that none of the participants had pain rooted in emotional trauma. They had gotten injured in some way.

I spoke to a retired orthopedic surgeon friend today who had heard about pain reprocessing therapy. She said that orthopedic and spine surgeons in America get so little training in psychology that they rarely to never consider that aspect of healing. They are trained to view the body as a machine only and insurance and worker’s compensation views it the same way—they are much less likely to approve therapy as part of pain management because they see the medical route as having measurable outcomes and therapy as having less certain outcomes. She said the amount of unnecessary back surgeries is alarming and that minimally invasive does not mean minimal risk.

because it has to do with mindset, and some people are going to just “go through the motions

She mentioned this too, saying that some people who get injured on the job hate their job and never want to go back so the idea of getting rid of the pain is terrible to them. I hadn’t thought about how for some people an injury and chronic pain is seen as their only way out of oppressive jobs.

 

[Roland]

My understanding is that none of the participants had pain rooted in emotional trauma. They had gotten injured in some way.

I spoke to a retired orthopedic surgeon friend today who had heard about pain reprocessing therapy. She said that orthopedic and spine surgeons in America get so little training in psychology that they rarely to never consider that aspect of healing. They are trained to view the body as a machine only and insurance and worker’s compensation views it the same way—they are much less likely to approve therapy as part of pain management because they see the medical route as having measurable outcomes and therapy as having less certain outcomes. She said the amount of unnecessary back surgeries is alarming and that minimally invasive does not mean minimal risk.

She mentioned this too, saying that some people who get injured on the job hate their job and never want to go back so the idea of getting rid of the pain is terrible to them. I hadn’t thought about how for some people an injury and chronic pain is seen as their only way out of oppressive jobs.

Yeah, I'm mixing several ideas in this conversation xD

Besides just oppressive jobs, a lot of people have their identity based in being ill/in pain (this isn't automatically a bad thing, some people have had their condition their entire life and being healed is a scary new identity to forge), then of course, there's people that enjoy the pity and attention of others.