In the blogs: About Pain and Pain Reprocessing Therapy, we discussed that all pain is a message from the brain, and that the brain will sometimes misinterpret safe sensations as unsafe, which is often what happens when people experience chronic pain. This misinterpreted pain is called neuroplastic pain.
The following list is a helpful criteria for determining whether your symptoms are neuroplastic .1
- Symptoms Begin Without Injury
- Though, even if pain began with an injury, if the pain persists after the injury has healed, it’s likely neuroplastic as well
- Symptoms Begin During Time of Stress
- Stress puts the brain on high alert and can trigger pain.
- Symptoms Are Inconsistent: When there are variations in the consistency of symptoms, it is likely neuroplastic.
- Symptoms Move/Spread
- Delayed Onset: Symptoms occur after, but not during, an activity/exercise
- Symptoms are Unexplainable by Known Structural Conditions
- Lack of a Physical Diagnosis: If doctors are unable to find any clear cause for the pain, that’s an indicator that it’s neuroplastic.
- Multiple Symptoms
- Symmetrical Symptoms
- Symptoms Triggered by Factors that Have Nothing to Do with the Body
- Stress (increases during times of stress or decreases when you are engaged in something enjoyable)
- Conditioned Response (Symptom is linked to a neutral trigger such as a position, activity, smell, sound, light, time of day…)
- History of Childhood Adversity: Anything that made you feel unsafe growing up can predispose you to chronic pain. When you have these kinds of experiences growing up, it can cause you to see the world through a lens of danger which makes you more susceptible to neuroplastic pain.
- Presence of Common Personality Traits: Perfectionism, Conscientiousness, People Pleasing, Anxiousness, Self-Pressure and Self-Criticism are traits that contribute to putting the brain on high alert.
- Co-Occurring Mental Health Conditions: Depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, eating disorders, and other mental health conditions share common mechanisms with neuroplastic pain.
- Family History of Chronic Pain
If you are experiencing pain or dizziness, with or without the above criteria, you may benefit from physical therapy with Dr. Sarah Burkhardt.
or email sarah@seatosummitpt.com with any questions!