Understanding Pain
Why is my pain persistent? Why does it take so long for my aches and pains to disappear? Why is the pain more chronic at times?
Two individuals can have similar injuries but have different outcomes. One clears up within weeks or months the other keeps recurring or is hurt too easily again and the pain eventually becomes chronic.
Recent findings by medical scientists have discovered how your brain processes pain. Most people assume that the amount of pain is in direct proportion to the amount of injury. Chronic pain is often caused by inappropriate nervous system signalling - not solely by tissue damage. These findings have been taken on board by Neurolink leading to a revolutionary method of treating chronic and recurring pain.
In the past, most treatments have been based on the idea that pain signals follow a single pathway straight from the body to be registered consciously in your brain. Therefore, all the treatment (massage, electrotherapy, manipulation, medication, injections etc.) has been geared to the site of the chronic pain only. Now latest research knows that your brain is very much involved in the processing of pain and is the main control centre when it comes to pain.
There are 3 stages to pain perception:
PAIN SIGNAL - Nerve endings sense pain and signals in a nerve.
PAIN MESSAGE - The nerve carries the pain signal to the spinal cord to travel up to the brain.
RESPONSE - The brain interprets the signal and perceives pain. This triggers a response.
In real life if you stub your toe, a pain signal is generated. This signal travels along a nerve as a message to the Spinal Cord, where it goes through a Spinal Gate, it then proceeds up to a Brain Gate, then up to the conscious and subconscious parts of the brain. It is these Gates that determine how many messages actually get through to your consciousness. A wide-open Gate allows more pain messages to get through - a narrow Gate allows few pain messages through.
How much pain gets through the pain control gates in your spinal cord and brain is determined by how wide open they are. This opening and closing is under the control of your nervous system and was the object of Dr. Melzack and Dr Walls intense research. They demonstrated that the descending nerve fibres originating in your brain then travelling down the spinal cord influence the gates. The descending nerves open or close in part by releasing Endorphins (morphine like painkillers) acting like gatekeepers, by limiting the amount of pain messages getting through. They are also released from the Pituitary Gland which in turn is controlled by the Hypothalamus Gland and the brain's higher cortical centres.
However, the response from your brain is influenced by many factors - genetics, physical, mental, emotional, pathological and hormonal experiences. If you have been taken outside your own individual tolerance levels (consciously or subconsciously) then the signalling from your brain is diminished or confused. The original hurt (whiplash, backache, headache, sports injury etc.) may already have healed, but the signalling circuitry needs to be addressed. The actual tissue at the pain area is only a part of the pain problem. Healing and long term relief will only come when proper speed of light signalling from the brain down to the pain is re-established.
Neurolink takes you through a series of tests to see where there is disruption in this signalling. Neurolink stimulates certain nerve points and acupuncture points to get instantaneous dialogue between the brain and the painful area. Once this is done healing recommences.
Some patients have more obstacles or baggage than others which hijacks repair. As a result each case is unique and consequently the rate of recovery is different in everybody.
Two individuals can have similar injuries but have different outcomes. One clears up within weeks or months the other keeps recurring or is hurt too easily again and the pain eventually becomes chronic.
Recent findings by medical scientists have discovered how your brain processes pain. Most people assume that the amount of pain is in direct proportion to the amount of injury. Chronic pain is often caused by inappropriate nervous system signalling - not solely by tissue damage. These findings have been taken on board by Neurolink leading to a revolutionary method of treating chronic and recurring pain.
In the past, most treatments have been based on the idea that pain signals follow a single pathway straight from the body to be registered consciously in your brain. Therefore, all the treatment (massage, electrotherapy, manipulation, medication, injections etc.) has been geared to the site of the chronic pain only. Now latest research knows that your brain is very much involved in the processing of pain and is the main control centre when it comes to pain.
There are 3 stages to pain perception:
PAIN SIGNAL - Nerve endings sense pain and signals in a nerve.
PAIN MESSAGE - The nerve carries the pain signal to the spinal cord to travel up to the brain.
RESPONSE - The brain interprets the signal and perceives pain. This triggers a response.
In real life if you stub your toe, a pain signal is generated. This signal travels along a nerve as a message to the Spinal Cord, where it goes through a Spinal Gate, it then proceeds up to a Brain Gate, then up to the conscious and subconscious parts of the brain. It is these Gates that determine how many messages actually get through to your consciousness. A wide-open Gate allows more pain messages to get through - a narrow Gate allows few pain messages through.
How much pain gets through the pain control gates in your spinal cord and brain is determined by how wide open they are. This opening and closing is under the control of your nervous system and was the object of Dr. Melzack and Dr Walls intense research. They demonstrated that the descending nerve fibres originating in your brain then travelling down the spinal cord influence the gates. The descending nerves open or close in part by releasing Endorphins (morphine like painkillers) acting like gatekeepers, by limiting the amount of pain messages getting through. They are also released from the Pituitary Gland which in turn is controlled by the Hypothalamus Gland and the brain's higher cortical centres.
However, the response from your brain is influenced by many factors - genetics, physical, mental, emotional, pathological and hormonal experiences. If you have been taken outside your own individual tolerance levels (consciously or subconsciously) then the signalling from your brain is diminished or confused. The original hurt (whiplash, backache, headache, sports injury etc.) may already have healed, but the signalling circuitry needs to be addressed. The actual tissue at the pain area is only a part of the pain problem. Healing and long term relief will only come when proper speed of light signalling from the brain down to the pain is re-established.
Neurolink takes you through a series of tests to see where there is disruption in this signalling. Neurolink stimulates certain nerve points and acupuncture points to get instantaneous dialogue between the brain and the painful area. Once this is done healing recommences.
Some patients have more obstacles or baggage than others which hijacks repair. As a result each case is unique and consequently the rate of recovery is different in everybody.
