879 FOCUS

SOUTH WOODHAM
FOCUS
South Woodham Focus
9
BACK TO BETTER
Why does my back hurt when my blood tests and x-rays say
there is nothing wrong?
The nervous system is clever, but complex, a super computer. Like
normal computers, it occasionally has a glitch, misinterprets
information and gives us a misleading pain reaction. This is
counter- intuitive to what we learnt as children- when we fell
and grazed our knee we saw blood and we learnt that pain =
damage. In reality, pain does not always mean we have tissue
damage, and although we are genuinely feeling the pain, which
can be miserable and life altering, exactly what we feel , can vary
hugely depending on our emotions, our environment and the
genes we inherited (Thanks Mum and dad xx) and may be
generated by the brain not coming directly from damaged
tissues.
Tell us more…
• (Nerdy bit alert***) The body is
physically represented in the
cortex of the brain depending on
the density of nerve endings in
each tissue for example; the
hand, tongue and genitals are
nerve ending rich, so
proportionally have a large area,
the buttocks and thighs, (where
nerve endings are as much as a
centimetre apart) have a smaller
one. This map looks like a strange
$
creature called the homunculus…
Pain can be caused when an area within the homunculus
becomes artificially sensitised and begins to report normal
messages like - touch, pressure and stretch, as pain.
Why does this happen?
• Stress - the chemicals we produce in our higher cortex when
we’re stressing (and who isn’t stressing these days) artificially
lower our pain threshold and make us more sensitive to noise,
light, allergens, the sound of our partner breathing etc..
• Joints that are stiff, muscles that are weak, through disuse(read
we haven’t got round to going to our exercise class again!) skin
that is scarred all send slightly abnormal messages to the brain
that can be misinterpreted as pain especially if it happens over a
long period.
• Thought distortion. Yes, sadly we are what we think – so,
continuously thinking about the part that hurts, prodding it,
testing to see if it still hurts (come on, we all do it) tends to over
activate the brain, and sets the sensitisation process in actioncue
vicious cycle…
Like to know more?
Join us for our amazing free seminar Back to Better.
Packed with fascinating facts, dazzling demos,
top tips and Q&A
(ask Senior Physiotherapists from Essex Physio’s Great Team,
your pressing questions.)
Call now to enrol: 01245 325037
Where: Club Woodham, Barons Road, South Woodham
Ferrers, CM35XQ .
When: Saturday 1st December, 9.30 - 12noon
Refreshments provided ~ Free goody bag ~ Vouchers for
you, your friends and family
Did we say FREE? We did? OK just checking!
But Hurry! - Last remaining spaces.