The bio-psychosocial approach to pain management acknowledges that their is not only a physical driver to persistent pain but also contributing psychological and social factors. There are many factors that contribute to our pain experience that exist outside of the sensation of pain itself. Did you know that past experiences of pain and even the experience of witnessing someone close to you who is in pain can colour your current pain experience. The attitudes of the people around us towards our pain can also have a dramatic effect on how our pain affects our daily lives? The longer we experience pain, the more susceptible we are to it’s trappings. Take long-term back pain for instance. It is quite often that movement or activity can be the best possible treatment for this type of pain, but past experiences, associations and expectations make it almost impossible to get out of bed for fear of causing more pain. This is what we call fear-avoidance behaviour and it is one of many negative behaviours that we tend to cling to searching for relief. While these types of behaviours seem justified in the moment we don’t realise that they are actually doing us harm and keeping us in pain. Negotiating our way out of chronic pain can often be fraught with frustration as we are often our own worst enemy, struggling to see the faults in our behaviour. If you need a steady hand to guide you through this “mine field”, the EP Group can help. CHRONIC PAIN IS NOT A LIFE SENTENCE.
