By

Larissa Gough

All pain sensations are transmitted to our awareness through the nervous system.  The sensation of pain occurs when pain receptors of the nervous system are activated, which means that they have detected some kind of imbalance.  These imbalances may be biomechanical, such as the tension on the tendon exceeds healthy limits, or biochemical, such as acid-base (pH) ratio deviates from the normal range.  Pain can also be caused by a decrease in the blood supply to the nerve itself. A nerve deprived of its normal quantity and quality of nourishment responds by causing pain.

Pain is a warning mechanism of the body/mind system about the imbalances we may have created by our own choices.  For example, we create biomechanical imbalances by our poor postures, while sitting, standing or sleeping; and we disturb normal body chemistry and create biochemical imbalances by our poor food choices.

Pain is a part of our survival mechanism.  It gives us a message that the homeostatic balance is disturbed and we need to change our lifestyle choices before it's too late, before we destroy ourselves.  The more severe the pain, the louder the message, that we have been ignoring the imbalance for too long.

In his book, Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants, Dr. Paul Brand explores the purpose and value of physical pain.  Dr. Brand, a world-renowned leprosy specialist, was working with leprosy patients in India and made a remarkable discovery.  He found that the horrible disfigurements of leprosy were not due to the disease directly causing the rotting of the flesh, but rather it was because the disease caused loss of pain sensation in the limbs.  Without the protection of pain, the leprosy patients lacked the system to warn them of tissue damage.  Dr. Brand observed patients walking or running on limbs with broken skin or even exposed bones; this caused continuous deterioration.  Without pain, sometimes they would even stick their hands in the fire to retrieve something.  He noticed an absolute indifference toward self-destruction.  In his book, Dr. Brand recounted story after story of the devastating effects of living without the sensation of pain.

After working with patients suffering from pain and those suffering from lack of pain, Dr. Brand gradually came to view pain not as the universal enemy as seen in the West but as a remarkable and sophisticated biological system that warns us of the damage to our body and therefore protects us.  The very unpleasantness of pain, the part that we hate, is what makes it so effective in protecting us and warning us of danger and injury.  The unpleasant quality of pain forces the entire human organism to attend to the problem.  It is also sears the experience into the memory and serves to protect us in the future.

Understanding the purpose of physical pain can lessen our suffering when pain arises.  We can prepare for pain ahead of time, while healthy, by gaining insight into the reason we have it. Since acute pain can demolish objectivity, we must reflect on these things before pain strikes.  If we can begin to think of pain as “message your body is delivering to you in the most effective way of getting your attention”, then our attitude about pain will begin to change.  And as our attitude about pain changes, our suffering will diminish.  We can even develop gratitude; we may not be grateful for the experience of pain, but we can be grateful for the system of pain perception.

Intelligent response to pain is not to kill the pain (“the messenger”) with painkillers, but make intelligent changes in our lifestyle that will bring the body back to normal state of balance (state of health), and the pain will disappear on its own.

We need to become aware what imbalances we create by our lifestyle choices and what do we need to change to bring our body/mind back to its normal, healthy state of balance. Pain prevention is about health education, acquiring knowledge about how to live in a way that maintains the delicate balance in the body/mind system.