WHAT PUTS THE PAIN IN CHRONIC PAIN?
Pain is the Fascial webs way of letting you know of there is something wrong and that you need to protect an area. Pain is 3-D; it encompasses memory, sight, smell, taste, touch and ROM. Pain is not just a perception in the brain. Pain is distributed throughout the Fascial web. There is no such thing as joint, muscle, nerve pain. Pain is a disturbance in the Fascial network. Pain signals are concentrated signals from a Fascial web. The source of Pain is usually, nine times out of ten, are not the area of work. Pain can influence attitude, yet attitude can influence pain. Dealing with pain, requires developing ontological metaphors, to help cope with it.
Chronically tense muscles become knotted & grow trigger points. Nerves can become impinged, causing numbness &/or shooting pain. Breathing can become shallower, laboured & circulation is hindered, hence overall health can be compromised, as well fatigue can set in. These dysfunctional patterns grow within us, week after week, month after month & year after year, much like the layers of an onionskin, becoming abnormal tension patterns. It may take a decade or more for these patterns to become painful & by the time they do, they have become part of our deep structure. As these patterns develop, they can distort posture, decrease bodily awareness & alter body mechanics (see diagram below)
If left unchecked, the pain & discomfort can develop into a vicious cycle of cumulative trauma
The cycle can be summed in the following equation & image:
Overtime, if this cycle is left unchecked, Trigger points will develop
Along with Trigger points, poor habitual ergonomics as well as previous scarring from older soft tissue trauma can result in unusual soft tissue strain patterns, that are very distant from the site of pain & discomfort (i.e. Trigger points)
Trigger points can be influenced by other factors as well.
