Pain is a debilitating symptom that can be linked to any number of complex conditions, causes, or other symptoms which can follow an accident, arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis and ME (chronic fatigue syndrome) and so on. There are at least two main pathways that carry information to the brain, one which goes to an area of the brain that tells us how much pain and where it is coming from (the sensory cortex) and another which goes to the emotional areas of the brain.
Generally speaking, acute pain is the body’s warning system which tells the body to move away from danger and to protect itself from further injury, and that with chronic pain there are changes in the nervous system and brain so that the pain system no longer functions as a warning system.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal Medicine have been proven to provide pain relief for persistent pain conditions by thousands of years practice, improving the quality of life for people suffering in pain and support them to manage their symptoms. The effects of pain management on people’s lives can be dramatic.
But learning about pain management also often involved finding out about what happens in the body when people experience pain and understanding how what we think, and feel can affect the pain. To be benefit to the treatment we must stress the importance of getting as much information as possible and helping them to learn ways of dealing with the disabling effects and distress caused by being in pain also.