Is Your Pain Any Different Today Than It Was Yesterday?
Pain. What is it? How do you describe it? Pain is an experience that is unique to each and everyone of us. We all feel pain, but our reaction to the pain is what differs from person to person. I often tell patients, when asking them to “rate their pain,” that I cannot compare your 5/10 to another patient’s 5/10 because we all perceive pain differently. So it is only fair to compare your previous pain rating to your current pain rating. That alone will give us insight into the your progress since the previous treatment. That number is only part of the description though. The part that matters more is the words that you use to describe your symptoms. Those words, while they may seem insignificant at the time, can shed an enormous amount of light on the cause of your symptoms. So please chose your words carefully, because the words that you use to describe your pain can have a significant impact on the efficacy your treatment, and therefore on your outcome.
Suffice it to say that the words that we chose to describe pain has changed quite a bit over the past 200 years as we have learned more and more about the experience of pain. A couple of years ago, The New York Times published an opinion piece that described the evolution of the words that we choose to use to describe the pain that we feel. It also talks about the evolution of pain medicine and how the medical community deals with patients who are experiencing chronic pain.
To Read The Article Click HERE
If You Would Like To Learn More About Pain And How We Perceive It Please Watch This Video From Lorimer Moseley.
Movement is my Medicine,
