What Your Doctor Didn’t Know - 7 Pain Traps

Long-term back pain is possibly the most misunderstood problem that you could have, and that’s why your doctor or physio hasn’t been able to help you. Except for one lone Australian researcher, whose work you’re about to be introduced to, most doctors are chasing “red herrings”.

At the end of this article I’m going to give you an opportunity to test out a completely new approach to long-term back pain, formulated by that Australian researcher. But first I want to tell you about the 7 traps, because without understanding those and taking action on them, you chance of progress is much less.

It’s really important that you don’t underestimate these pain traps in any way. We now know that long-term pain is triggered in your nervous system in a way that’s very different to short-term pain, and every one of these traps can act as a trigger.

TRAP 1

Withdrawing from people. I know that when you’ve got pain the last thing you might feel like doing is mixing with people. In the acute stage of your pain, when the injury was still fresh, that was a good idea, but it’s the last thing you should do when your pain is long-term. It’s absolutely vital that you mix with people, and that you don’t let anything stand in the way of that, including your pain.

TRAP 2

Not being active enough. Of course you need to rest and recover when an injury is fresh, but that’s the last thing you should do with long-term pain. Activity is crucial for mental and physical health - your body needs it! But don’t worry if you pain specialist has criticised you for not “pushing” through the pain. That’s a dumb statement to make because it can sensitise you instead of helping. You need to have a base amount of activity that is pretty much OK, and then consistently increase how hard and how long you do it.

There’s a balance to be found here, and that’s what you should be looking for.

TRAP 3

Leaning too much on loved ones or friends. To recover from long-term pain you need to be working at ways to increase your independence, physically and emotionally. So the way out of this trap is to refuse to let others do for you what you are capable of doing for yourself. There is also no point saying the same things to people over and over again. They already know you have pain; they already know how you feel about that. If they forget, sure, remind them. But in the meantime change the subject! You must focus your mind elsewhere in order to give your nervous system a chance to recover.

TRAP 4

Not having interests or hobbies. I hinted in trap 3 that it’s important to get your focus off yourself, and hobbies and interests are a great way to do that. I should explain that this has nothing to do with being selfish, or having self pity. No, no-one could blame you even if you did feel that way! This is about that nervous system again, and the crucial need to get your attention outside of your body! Some patients tell us that they just don’t have any interests, but our answer is “Get one!”. Do you want to get better? Choose an interest or hobby. You’re not going to be stuck with it for life - you can ditch it later. But right now you need it.

In the same way, you must stay aware of what’s going on in the world. Stay informed, and talk to people about their thoughts and feelings in relation to what you discover. Become involved.

TRAP 5

Tolerating feelings of depression, anger, embarrassment or anxiety. These feelings put a lot of pressure on your nervous system and make it more reactive, leading to more pain. There are some really quite miraculous ways to switch these awful feelings off and give your nervous system a break!

TRAP 6

Lousy sleep. If you’re not sleeping between 6 and 10 hours a night, if you’re snoring, if your sleep is interrupted, if you’re waking up feeling rotten, then these are signs your sleep has been compromised. Do yourself a favour and grab a book on “sleep hygiene” from your local library, and get whatever help you need to make sure your sleep supports your health and wellbeing.

TRAP 7

Not managing your nutrition. Good nutrition is even more important than good sleep, and if you’re overweight, underweight, or tired all of the time you can bet your nutrition needs to be examined.

I hope you’ll pay very close attention to these 7 traps and make sure that you’re in no way trapped in any of them. Sure they’re common sense, but I’ll bet your doctor hasn’t given you any detailed guidance on many, if any. Get these things right, and you have the foundation for recovery.

HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO TEST A NEW PAIN RELIEVER

What I’m about to share with you might look pretty odd at first, and that’s because it’s designed to thoroughly mess up the pain signals. This seemingly crazy technique, detailed in the book “The Pain Train - Time to Get Off” is part of a program that’s helped over 85% of people eliminate or dramatically reduce their pain.

To “mix up” your pain signals, you need to focus on your pain at the same time as you’re doing some sensory stimuli that are pretty strong. I’m quite sure you’ll think this is a bit silly, but don’t be fooled because doctors all over the world are starting to sit up and take notice!

Pick just one tiny point on your body where there is pain. Decide how strong that pain is out of 10. Focus your mind on that as strongly as you can. Just that point and no other point. If you like you can talk about it out loud or inside your head just to keep your mind on it. As you’re doing that, start tapping, tickling, pinching, all over your body, at the same time imagining you have different kinds of food in your mouth, maybe chocolate, maybe bread and butter, maybe a piece of steak.

Do that for maybe 5 minutes maximum, and then check whether anything at all has happened. You’re not worried about other areas, just that single spot you “treated”.

Be certain when you’re checking that it’s just that one little area that you’re “measuring” to see what’s happened. If you’re like most people, you’ll find there’s been some kind of change. The pain won’t necessarily be gone at this stage, but it will have changed in some way. The program is designed to reduce the pain until it doesn’t return.

Tags: Health & Fitness