PAIN- MOST PRIMITIVE YET MYSTERIOUS
Pain is the most elusive of all unpleasant experiences, which riddled us for many decades. Musculoskeletal pain is the most common and highly ignored. And at the same time, it is very difficult to evaluate or quantified s it has no quantitative measure, so intangible and so subjective, that can never be the same for the 2 subjects or individuals.
Despite the theories of pain syndrome that have been developed in attempts to categorize individuals with similar pain perceptions, still remain unsatisfied because if the pain is such a simple concept, people with the same perception should always get relief with proven drugs or therapy.
However, this is not a commonly encountered scenario and we again go back to the initial conundrum of so-called pain. As the mystery of pain is decoded by giving emphasis on all aspects of pain i.e physical. physiological and socio-mental.
Physiotherapy has an immense role in the alleviation of pain, especially in t musculoskeletal origin of pain. Yet slowly and steadily physiotherapy contributes efforts to ease pain using exercises prescription, electrotherapy, ergonomic and home modification, and manual techniques.
October 2009 -October 2010 was declared as the global year against musculoskeletal pain by the international association for the study of pain(IASP).
Exercises are shown to be of benefit for the most musculoskeletal origin of pain.
It has been theorized by IASP that exercises work at opioid and non-opioid mechanisms. Exercise increases beta-endorphin levels and reduces pain.
In myofascial conditions where there is an emergence of trigger point, and multiple nodes there is strong evidence now proving that physiotherapy techniques like myofascial release, compression therapy, pressure release, and muscle energy technique delivers effective and immediate pain relief.
Mindfulness meditation, body scanning, and progressive relation techniques hack the emotional response to pain and in the long run, result in cortical thickness in some areas of the brain making an individual less sensitive to pain.
Exercises and these techniques work on the biopsychosocial model affecting the way individual reports to pain.
It is of great satisfaction to realise that IASP has recognised the responsibility of physiotherapy in pain management. We have potential and we can guide each individual and help them to correct muscle imbalance, alignment, immobility, and altered movement pattern. Physiotherapists always dig deeper to know the root cause and tailormade the exercises prescription and therapy as each body is different and responds differently to the therapy.
“when physical pain surpasses mental anguish, tears unleash the saga in muted silence!” -don’t ignore physical pain
