Many people who live with chronic pain can be led to believe that the pain is all in their head. This is untrue! Chronic pain is a condition of the nervous system. Under normal conditions, pain serves a short-term protective function that resolves with healing. However, when pain persists for three or more months, it moves into the realm of a condition that not only has no benefit, but impacts a person’s ability to work, move, sleep, enjoy social or family time and can cause emotional distress.

The reason pain persists is caused by a reprogramming of the nervous system, where pain signals become more frequent, amplified, and can go off without warning. When reprogramming of the nervous system occurs, the nervous system goes into an ongoing state of “high alert.” For some people this may mean that if you sit for too long or move too much, you experience an increase in pain. Some people’s pain can even be triggered by a change in weather or for no reason at all. Many people in chronic pain share stories about finding some temporary respite when with good friends, having a laugh, or doing something they love, like playing music.
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WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF CHRONIC PAIN?

There are hundreds of types of chronic pain conditions which can be more broadly categorised into either nociceptive, neuropathic or nociplastic pain.
To complicate matters, it is not uncommon to have a “mix” of pain types. Your pain management is never decided on by pain type alone, but it can be an important factor in guiding evidenced based treatment and management strategies.
-Nociceptive pain
Nociceptive pain can be thought of as pain associated with tissue injury or damage or even potential damage. Nociceptors are sensory endings on nerves that can be excited or sensitised and signal potential tissue damage. Examples of different types of chronic nociceptive pain include osteoarthritis, pelvic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis.
-Neuropathic pain
Neuropathic pain is pain associated with injury or disease of nerve tissue. People often get this type of pain when they have shingles, sciatica, neck or back radiculopathy, trigeminal neuralgia, or diabetic neuropathy.

-Nociplastic pain
Nociplastic pain is defined as ‘pain that arises from altered nociception despite no clear evidence of actual or threatened tissue damage causing the activation of peripheral nociceptors or evidence for disease or lesion of the somatosensory system causing the pain’. This type of pain may reflect changes in the way the nervous and immune systems function. Examples of different types of chronic nociplastic pain include Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), Fibromyalgia, and non-specific lower back pain. Click here to watch a short video on 'the mysterious science of pain'
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WHAT IS CHRONIC PAIN MANAGEMENT?

Chronic pain is often referred to as an ‘invisible illness’ where you can feel pain 24/7, however externally people might think you don’t look unwell. Living with pain has an impact on all parts of a person’s life. Some of our members living with pain have described learning techniques for ‘managing’ their pain which allowed them to gradually take back their lives and return to meaningful, and enjoyable activities in life with a pain reduction.

The best approach to chronic pain management is using the bio-pyscho-social approach, this is a whole person approach and takes into consideration biological, psychological and social factors. We often use a range of strategies inclusive of medication, movement, diet, relaxation, socialisation and more.

Often a multi-disciplinary approach is best to draw on the skills of different professionals. Osteopaths can play a crucial role in chronic pain management, we are comprehensively trained in pain specifically chronic pain to be able to educate and empower you.

              Chronic pain affects over 3.6 million Australians and is the leading                                                                       cause of disability.

Good pain management should include: Developing personalised and realistic goals Developing a pain management plan that includes team-based care arrangements Improving your knowledge and understanding of chronic pain Supporting your skills and application of self-managing chronic pain Reviewing and modifying your pain management plan.

​If this is something you would like to explore more for yourself or a loved one please get in contact with us.