Help your brain reinterpret pain

By Patricia Delzell, M.D., Advanced Musculoskeletal Medicine Consultants, Inc.

When it comes to managing chronic pain, we often focus only on the anatomical. We want a diagnosis; we want to know what’s wrong; we want to fix it with a pill, an injection or even surgery.

But chronic pain is not only anatomical. It is a sensation interpreted by the brain, but not always correctly. You may feel as though your muscle is tearing when you use it, yet the ultrasound shows the muscle is intact but with scar tissue restricting motion. In this case, the pain sensation from the scar is being misinterpreted by your brain and preventing you from moving, the very thing that will help to heal.

Unfortunately, soft tissue injuries can take a long time to heal, and treatments like surgery and injections are often only temporary relievers of pain. So what can we do now to feel better?

One of the most successful solutions we’ve found for chronic pain is to give the brain what it needs to better reinterpret the pain sensations, including improved sleep and reduced anxiety. Pain is interconnected with psycho-social health, so being tired or stressed actually increases the pain sensations in your brain.

At Advanced MMC, we use ultrasound to help determine if the true cause of your pain is anatomical, a faulty pain sensation, or a combination of both, then we offer a variety of methods to help your brain reinterpret aberrant pain sensations, including breathing techniques, meditation, yoga, cognitive behavioral therapy, and helping you get a good night’s sleep.

The effect of stress on chronic pain cannot be overemphasized. That is why we work so closely with people to optimize their ability to keep calm and reinterpret their pain. This not only leads to reduced pain sensations, it leads to an overall better quality of life.

Advanced Musculoskeletal Medicine Consultants is at 8398 Kinsman Road in Novelty, Ohio. To schedule a complimentary Chronic Pain Phone Consultation, call 440-557-5011. Visit AdvancedMMC.com for more information, including blogs and videos.