Understanding Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is incredibly common, but chronic injury is not. That would be like having a cut that never heals, which is incredibly uncommon! Unfortunately we do not have a common and well-understood model for explaining ongoing pain, and so most people who have ongoing pain feel like they have a long term injury. This means that they avoid load, and we know that load is one of the most important determinants of recovery. Avoidance becomes a kind of positive feedback loop. It can be a strong contributor to chronic pain.

It’s the same with movement patterns, too. There are whole schools of thought built on the idea that if you move incorrectly then the particular model can help you to move better. In almost all cases these models have no greater effect than general exercise programs, meaning that the outcome is unlikely to be due to moving differently. The unfortunate consequence of these programs is that they make people feel like there is something wrong with how they move, and this can over-complicate recovery.

Our team put forward these two ideas: 1) injuries heal, and 2) the way you move is almost certainly fine.

At our practice, we communicate the best pain science to help people feel safe and confident to move normally. We then give people strategies to develop their capacity by moving more. Nothing complex, just a kind of radical simplicity! 

During these strange times with COVID-19 we are offering Telehealth. Telehealth physio delivers our whole clinic to your pocket via a smartphone. Luckily Telehealth physio is something that we have done a lot of, having completed a clinical trial of our model late last year. So if you are stuck at home then using this time to conquer your pain is a worthy challenge.

To learn more, watch our education animation at Tame the Beast. Contact the team on 0434 294 209‬. Go to our Telehealth page. And make a start 🌞