How does stress cause physical pain?

This is what our Team were answering during this weeks CPD session. The 2 hour session led by lead clinican Rick Livesey urged therapists to 'look outside the box' when approaching pain.

"Pain itself can be hard to get your head around, particularly when you realise that pain doesn't exist" says Rick Livesey.

Pain is your brains interpretation of the signals it receives. Sometimes these signals are false warning, amplified or confused.The brain interprets these signals and identifies it as 'pain'. But what if the brain is on overdrive? The brain can misinterpret the signals and identify 'normal' sensations as 'pain'.The brain controls your whole body - if this control centre isn't functioning correctly, what happens to the physical things it controls?

Fibromyalgia encompasses a broad spectrum of symptoms as a result of this impaired control centre (plus environmental/lifestyle factors).

Our therapists learnt about the different factors that influence the control centre (brain), and what we can do as therapists to identify and manage this.

Stress isn't 'Stress'

When people think of stress, they typically think of being busy and stressful. A better term we use is 'emotional stressors'. These are factors in someone's life that cause someone's mind to be overactive - thinking, doing, working.We run Relax & Breathe Classes to help people train their mind to switch off and relax, and this often helps with physical symptoms such as IBS, pain, headaches and psoriasis.

Think we can help?

If you are reading this and you can relate to issues discussed in this brief article, then maybe we can help you.Our physiotherapists and sports therapists can primarily help with physical pain. This overlaps with physical and psychological. Our mental health nurse Lucy Livesey offers 1-to-1 Wellbeing Consultations to help with psychological difficulties such as stress and anxiety. Additionally we offer "Relax & Breathe" and "Yoga" classes which help with the mind and body.If you aren't sure how we can help, then drop us a message and we will advise you what would be most appropriate.

How to Attend our CPD

Our CPD sessions are open to all therapists working for Sports Physio UK. We provide a weekly CPD programme to ensure they are developing their knowledge and keeping up to date with advancing their clinical skills.Rick Livesey will be presenting today's session as a guest lecturer at Huddersfield University on Tue 17th October 2017 at 9.15am-12.15pm.

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