Pain, Part I
Dr. Jorge Kaufmann, ND, L.Ac.
Everyone knows pain. A whack to your thumb or the heat of a skillet as you realize you need new oven mits, our bodies are programmed to respond to painful stimuli in order to lessen our discomfort and prevent us from encountering serious injury. In this way pain is actually a protective mechanism: the body knows that damage is occurring and sends out a cry in order to get our conscious attention. When we are aware of what is happening to our body, we can remove the cause and stop the damage from ensuing. The pain of a hot skillet on the skin is a warning signal just the same as the constant pain of arthritis, chronic headaches, or abdominal distress.
Pain receptors are very sensitive to tissue damage. If you feel pain on a regular basis your body is actually crying for help as tissues including bone, cartilage, skin, organs are being injured. Regular use of painkillers without addressing the cause of the pain muffles your body's fire alarm. Treating the symptom of pain in this fashion without curing allows the disease process to continue.
The presence of chronic pain is not without reason and its cause should be sought out. While attempting to remove the cause there are several options available to help repair tissue damage and aid the healing process. On a biochemical level pain is influenced by what we put into our bodies such as food, drink, and medication, as well as what we do with our bodies including sleep habits, daily movement (or lack thereof), and mental and emotional stress management. Every day we make choices that can influence pain levels. Knowing which choices to make is essential to any recovery process. Next month we'll discuss the biochemistry of pain.
RoseSprings Center has many practitioners skilled in pain management and recovery.
