Role of Stress and pain?

Hi there, this is Christine Koth, Holistic Physical Therapist. I would like to talk a little bit about the role of stress in pain. Many of us have been taught that we experience pain because something gets damaged in our body. Our brain sends a signal to our body that tells us that there's a pain. In reality, that's not exactly what true pain signals. Actually, it is your brain's way of expressing that it feels threatened. Your body gathers data from the environment and is discerning: sense of smell what it sees what it feels like is there a cut is there increased chemicals in the area is there pressure is there movement Our brains are constantly gathering all of this information from our senses and nervous system. It’s taking in information and deciding whether or not if something is important? It’s determining if it needs to respond? For example, you twist your ankle and you know there's some sensation around some chemicals being released. You get a stretch sensory signal that goes to your brain. Your body responds by some blood being released around the tendon. All that information is going to your brain. Along with how you twisted your ankle. Your brain is identifying what the environment is like; are you in a dangerous situation; how are you feeling? All of that information goes up to the brain and gets connected with all of your past
experiences around injury and pain. Ideas your parents taught you or cultural events influence the information that gets processed by the brain. The brain decides is this situation something that is threatening? If it’s something that's threatening then the signal from your brain comes out as pain. That's the message that you get and you feel the ouch. You'll feel the pain and it's not necessarily that the tissue
is damaged. It's more about what your brain is creating around it. For example, you're out in the garden and having a wonderful day.
You know it's a beautiful sunshiny day and you twist your ankle. This particular experience you don't feel stressed out about at all. It’s just a little bit of a tweak and
it's not a big deal. Your body may not send the signal of pain at all in this scenario. In another example, you drop a bunch of things that are important and you; break your phone; you start worrying about how much it's gonna cost it to replace it? These may be the scenario your brain may create the sensation of pain. I hope this helps you understand a little bit more about how pain works. How
the effects of the emotions and your environment influence your brain as of whether or not it produces pain. If you'd like more information or you'd like to meet with me one on one to discuss this you can reach out to me at www.ChristineKoth.com. You can schedule online for an appointment. I look forward to meeting you soon!