To All My Clinicians in the Struggle I struggle with patients. Those patients that I am having trouble with are who I study the most. It’s that whole learning from your failures thing. In studying these folks, I have noticed an interesting trend. It doesn’t involve movement. It doesn’t involve medical history It doesn’t involve stress (though it always involve stress) Instead it involves language. I have noticed a few commonalities in how those patients who are either not improving or have been in chronic pain for some time talk. There is one shift, however, that I notice more often than not. Disembodiment from Your Sports Team I don’t really watch a whole lot of sports; I’d rather play them. Sports fans however, interest me. It’s fascinating how much ownership a sports fan takes in his or her team. This ownership is especially noticeable when things are going well. Think of the language one may use during the following instances: Huge victory – “We finally beat the Packers.” Draft Picks – “Our team got some huge prospects.” Championship win – “We are the champions….my friends.” Notice though, how oftentimes language may shift when a team is not doing so well. Huge loss – “The Bears lost…Again.” Draft flops – “I can’t believe they chose Steve Urkel first round!.” Championship loss – “They blew our chance of winning.” Robert Cialdini discusses this concept in his book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.” When our team is winning, we manipulate our association to
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Explain Pain Section 1: Intro to Pain
This is a summary of the first section of the book “Explain Pain” by David Butler and Lorimer Moseley. Intro The major premise of this book is that pain is normal. It is the way that your brain judges a situation as threatening. Even if there are problems in the body, pain will not occur if your brain thinks you are not in danger. Explaining pain can reduce the threat value and improve pain management. And the good thing about explaining pain? Research shows that it can be an easily understood concept. Pain is Normal Pain from bites, postures, sprains, and other everyday activities are more often than not changes in the tissues that the brain perceives as threatening. This system is very handy, as often it keeps us from making the same mistake twice. I personally akin this to patients as recognizing a certain smell and that smell reminding you of something. Pain is often the reminder of previous injuries. Pain becomes problematic when it becomes chronic. This pain is often the result of the brain concluding that for some reason, often a subconscious one, that the person is threatened and in danger. The trick is finding out why. Pain Stories Stories are some of the best ways to relate pain to patients. There are many cases when you hear soldiers sustaining major injuries yet charging further into battle. On the flipside, take a look at paper cuts. The damage is very miniscule; however, the pain levels are huge.
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