Understanding Pain

First and foremost, pain is a messenger to change your behavior.

You start to run out the door and you slip and fall on your knee. Right away, you say ”Ouch!”

You said “ouch” but, in reality, you aren’t really experiencing the pain yet. Did you notice? It takes a few seconds for the action of hitting your knee to reach your brain. And then, woosh! All of a sudden all the pain is there. OUCH!

After the pain signal reaches the brain, your body and innate inflammatory response sends chemicals and lymphocytes to clean up the mess. There may be swelling. There may be pain. But for the first 24 -36 hours, what happens? The pain and inflammatory response stops you from doing what? MOVING THE KNEE!

 And that is precisely what the pain is asking of you. Please change your behavior. Do not climb the steps. Do not take a run.

 Take it easy.

I know, I know. It may not be in your reality. You need to go to work. You have to get the kids to school. Trust me, I get it! But this is where the early response to pain is so critical. So even if you have to keep moving, let’s look at some solutions to your pain.

For your best success at healing, for the first 24-36 hours use the formula RICE.

R- Rest

I- Ice

C- Compress

E- Elevate.

This acronym means to first, Rest. Use Ice to reduce swelling and inflammation. Compress is essentially using a ACE band or compression sleeve to stabilize the area. Elevate is a reminder to keep the area up so the circulation is assisted. For example, if you twisted your ankle, you want to keep the foot up on an ottoman to allow the flow of blood to circulate easier than if the foot was on the floor.

There is some confusion on ice. Icing the injury does inhibit inflammation and constriction and allows it to feel numb with less pain. Ice will decrease muscle spasms but it also decreases local circulation. So it also may slow the healing response. Inflammation is vital to healing because the inflammatory response brings immune cell activity to the area, removing waste material through blood and lymph system circulation. This activity increases oxygen to and moves the tissues from the inflammation (and accompanying pain) into the formation of new blood cells and healing.

To increase microcirculation to an injury, using herbs like Arnica, Cayenne, Gotu kola and Yarrow topically will assist and may prove more effective in the long run than using ice. If the pain is from a soft tissue injury and is producing muscle spasms, ice may be indicated using a 10 minutes on, 15 minutes off and 10 minutes on protocol.

Types of Pain

 What does nerve pain feel like?

Nerve pain is shooting, sharp, moving or numbness and tingling. Nerve tissue is commonly injured by compression to the nerve or tension forcing connective tissue to entrap the conduction of the nerve and produce symptoms. Nerves require vascular (blood) supply to function so even a tight muscle or sitting on a nerve may produce acute nerve pain or tingling. We have all experienced the sensation of “my foot is asleep” or pins and needles in an extremity only to shake it out and have it restored to normal. This is a simple example of nerve entrapment. More complex nerve entrapments may cause debilitating pain, such as carpal tunnel and sciatica.

Classic herbal remedy for nerve pain is Hypericum perforatum, Saint John’s Wort.

How do we recognize inflammation? 

Remember, inflammation is a friend in the initial response to healing. It keeps us from moving the area, calling in our innate healing chemicals and infection fighters. Inflammation is essentially heat caused by new activity in the area. This is how our body communicates with us. Inflammation may be red, swollen, warm to the touch and should subside within 24-48 hours.

Accompanying inflammation is often pain. Reduce the inflammation and you will reduce the pain. Herbal medicine has many anti-inflammatories for pain with White Willow Bark being one of the most popular, readily available remedies. If Willow is irritating to your stomach, try Meadowsweet for an easier tolerated remedy.

 What happens when our joints and tissues are dry?

Dry tissues result in inflammation, irritation and bone on bone pain with lack of flexibility. Friction and abrasion can be alleviated with lubricating herbs and oils such as Omega3 EFA. Dry conditions may also affect the lymphatics causing sluggishness and fluid buildup.

Long-term dry joints and tissues tend to worsen over time. It is common to hear a creaking sound in your knees, cracking in the elbow and fingers indicating possible deterioration of the joints. A specific remedy for creaking in the joints with bone movement is Solomon Seal which can be applied topically or used as a tincture.

What does muscle laxity feel like?

Muscle and tissue laxity may result from lack of use. There may be excessive lengthening of the muscle, build up of metabolic waste. Couch potatoes come to mind when describing muscle laxity. My grandma used to say “If you don’t use it- you lose it.” Muscle laxity is essentially a weakness of muscle and can be reversed if caught early. Weight bearing exercises can reverse laxity and even walking 30 minutes a day can rejuvenate muscles.

What about functional tension?

Functional tension is a controlled consciously or unconsciously muscle contraction, tension is evident but still functional. What that means is you have tension in the body but you are still able to move, walk, dance, function. Sources of functional tension are: Stress, lack of sleep, fatigue, physical stress, posture, body mechanics. Treatment of functional tension includes, movement, massage, breathing exercises.

As a licensed massage therapist, 80 percent of my clients experience functional tension. They arrive after a busy week with their shoulders up to their ears and say “I don’t know why but I have a headache.”

This is functional tension.

What happens when functional tension becomes non-functional?

Muscles have memory and when the functional tension becomes stagnant, a holding pattern begins. This pattern increases inflammation, pain and lack of range of motion. Muscle shortening begins when the spindle cells lose their tolerance for lengthen and flexibility shortening occurs. Holding patterns in the fascia result in tender points which lead to painful trigger points. Trigger points are points that when touch refer pain to other areas of the body, often along meridians.

Non-functional tension is almost 100 percent avoidable. Massage, walking, yoga, and moderate stretches can bring results quickly.

 Importance of body awareness in herbal solutions

Body awareness is such a strong ally especially when integrating herbs in to your healing practice. Paying close attention to your body response to the injury will be a guide to choosing remedies and knowing when to switch out a remedy if it is ineffective. If you have been using a remedy for two weeks with no results, it is most likely not the best remedy.

This blog is an excerpt from my online class “Plant-based Remedies & Self Care Solutions to Pain.”