Pain is nothing but a perception.
Pain is the cortical, emotional response to nociceptive information that reaches the cortex and there can be a great deal of nociceptive input that does not reach the conscious brain (cortex). Nociception is the detection of noxious stimuli or stressors and the body responds accordingly by increasing the stress response and associated stress hormones, such as catecholamines (epinephrine/norepinephrine) and cortisol. Increased nociception can lead to sensitization of the nociceptive pathways both peripherally and centrally via the process of synaptogenesis and neuroplasticity. This sensitization process results in lowered firing thresholds and has been documented to lead to allodynia. Dr. James Chestnut
What the flip does all that mean?
Cortical/Cortex.
This is the cerebral cortex, which is the conscious part of your brain. It’s estimated that the brain receives 3 TRILLION bits of information every second but only 50 bits actually reach the conscious brain.
Nociception/Noxious Stimuli.
Nociception (No-See-Sep-shun) is the transfer and communication of noxious stimuli (signals that indicate potential harm in the body). The more potential harm your body undergoes, the more the body adapts into protection mode, just in case you are actually in danger. As a result, this sets the stage for your body, regardless of how you feel, to be in a constant state of fight or flight.
Sensitization and Lowered Firing Thresholds.
You increase sensitivity to things like sound, sight, hearing, touch, and for our purposes, pain. In other words, the more sensitive you are, the less stimulus it takes to set you off. Imagine one of your kids annoying the crap out of you and you’re doing a good job at holding it together but irritated. But as soon as your second child joins the “mom…mom…mom…mom” chant, you blow your fuse and snap at the second child.
Synaptogenesis and Neuroplasticity.
The best way to translate these terms is “the cells that fire together, wire together.” The more you repeat something, a habit, a movement, or even a thought, the more your nervous system creates increased communication and default pathways around those actions. You learned to ride a bike or swim. As a result, you created new nerve pathways to remember how to do that the rest of your life. The more you do it, the better you get at it.
Allodynia.
This is pain associated with things that should not cause pain, like light touch. As a chiropractor I hear this all the time. As I’m assessing someone’s tissues, I often hear, ‘I didn’t realize my back was so sensitive,” or “I didn’t realize I had pain until you started poking around.”
