Have you ever heard that your pain starts in your brain? Although it may seem strange, it’s actually true! Our nervous system, consisting of our brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, is responsible for protecting us from perceived danger, and sometimes this means creating a pain response.
Evidence shows that there are multiple brain areas that are active during a pain experience; rather than a single pain centre in the brain being responsible for what we feel, there are many areas that communicate with each other and drive the symptoms that we feel.
These brain areas all have different responsibilities. Some include:
Primary Somatosensory Cortex: helps process sensation, including touch, temperature, and joint positioning. Also helps plan movement.
Primary Motor Cortex: works with other brain areas to plan/execute movements in your body.
Amygdala: involved with memory and emotions, especially anxiety and fear.
Anterior Cingulate Gyrus: controls autonomic functions like blood pressure and heart rate, as well as helping in decision making, emotions, focus and concentration.
Hippocampus: Plays an important role in consolidating information from short term and long term memory.
Hypothalamus and Thalamus: controls functions like body temperature, hunger, fatigue, sleep, consciousness.
Prefrontal Cortex: Impacts personality, decision making, social behaviour.
Cerebellum: contributes to balance, coordination and movement.
Spinal Cord: screens incoming information from the body.
Imagine, if all these brain areas are busy creating pain during an injury, they may not be fully focused on the other tasks they are typically responsible for! This can result in additional symptoms like:
- Increased fear and anxiety
- Short term memory loss
- Fatigue, low energy, and disrupted sleep
- Decreased focus, concentration, problem solving, and decision making
- Changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature
- Difficulty with movement and fine motor skills
- And more!
This is why it is so common to experience symptoms beyond pain when you have an acute or chronic injury. It also explains how things like fear, anxiety, stress, and memories can also contribute to ongoing pain.
If you are experiencing ongoing symptoms and want to learn more about a comprehensive treatment plan to address your pain, please reach out to Elora Physiotherapy!
Reference:
Louw A, Puentedura, E, Schmidt S, Zimney K. (2018). Pain neuroscience education 2nd ed: Teaching people about pain. OPTP.