Another reminder that sympathetic fight of flight nervous system is at the heart of chronic musculoskeletal pain like we see in fibromyalgia. This is study found “the higher the sympathetic drive to the heart and vessels, the higher the magnitude of chronic pain.” The primary focus of healing should be getting one’s nervous system moving […]
A lot of the people I work with have an increased tendency to worry, whether it’s about their symptoms or about things in life. Worry by itself can cause more somatic symptoms. I’ve linked a study below showing that. Worrying increases stress chemicals in the body from the brain that will make you feel worse […]
This study from 2020 https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/14/11/1147/5716281 shows how the role of accepting pain and negative emotions reduces the intensity of both these things. One of the primary things I talk about is letting chronic pains and emotions move through you and be felt vs. pushing these things away or trying to fix them. This is in opposition […]
A review study here highlighting how a stressed out brain and nervous system create chronification of pain. The HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal) axis in the brain (limbic brain) influences changes in the autonomic nervous system to kick off the fight or flight sympathetic nervous system which can cause a whole host of physical ailments in the […]
Continuing on the theme that most chronic disease is caused by an overactive sympathetic (fight, flight, freeze) nervous system and an inability to turn on and keep on the parasympathetic (rest, digest, relax) nervous system. This is pretty much the main goal of the healing work – to help people activate and keep activated this […]
We have clear evidence from heart rate variability studies that people with chronic pain are in the fight, flight or freeze autonomic nervous system state (sympathetic state) and have a hard time activating and staying in the rest, digest and relax autonomic nervous system state (parasympathetic). This is one the big keys to getting out […]
Wanted to share the new film called ‘This Might Hurt’. My colleague and fellow PT Georgie Oldfield is showing a screening of this new film this weekend. I’ve included her invite below. I’m reaching out to invite you to join me for the digital premiere of the feature film THIS MIGHT HURT! An official selection […]
One of the things that has consistently been popping up in the brain MRI research is the role of the amygdala in chronic pain and anxiety disorders. The amygdala is the center of negative emotions and is part of the limbic brain. This part of the brain has been implicated in the transition of acute […]
The definition of pain is: “A sensory and emotional experience…” as defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Emotions are a part of pain. Not many healthcare practitioners address the emotional side of pain. It is very real and the more chronic the pain typically the more emotional it is. Acute/subacute […]
The prefrontal cortex is a part of our brain that controls what’s called ‘higher executive functioning’. This is the cognitive area of the brain that houses our conscious perception and decision making abilities, as well as the ability to send inhibitory messages to down-regulate pain. The prefrontal cortex is number one in my opinion as […]
