Pain Tolerance

Definition of Pain

“An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.” Acknowledges there is more to the pain experience than just physical injury.

Acute pain usually comes on suddenly and is caused by something specific. It is sharp in quality. Acute pain usually doesn’t last longer than six months. It goes away when there is no longer an underlying cause for the pain.

Chronic pain is pain that is ongoing and usually lasts longer than six months. This type of pain can continue even after the injury or illness that caused it has healed or gone away. Pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months or years. Some people suffer chronic pain even when there is no past injury or apparent body damage.

Pain Tolerance: Causes, influences, and how to affect it.

A person`s pain tolerance refers to how much pain they can reasonably handle. The feeling of pain is the body`s natural response to uncomfortable stimuli it feels from the environment or elsewhere. Pain tolerance also plays a role in some conditions of chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia.

Pain tolerance refers to how much pain a person can reasonably handle. They still feel the sensation as painful, but the pain is tolerable. Pain threshold is the point at which a stimulus becomes painful.

What causes low or high pain tolerance?

Biological factors – genetics, physiology, neurochemistry, tissue health

Social factors – Skepticism, social support, social learning, skepticism, social economic status

Psychological factors – perceived control, catastrophic thinking, hypervigilance, depression, anxiety, stress, and anger can all decrease pain tolerance and therefor

increase the perception of pain.

Mental health issues – Some people with mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety may experience more feelings of pain.

Other factors - The drugs a person takes, severe lack of sleep or insomnia, or lifestyle choices, such as smoking.

Raising pain tolerance

There may be some ways to increase pain tolerance. These may not cause drastic changes in how a person experiences pain, but over time may increase how much pain a person can handle.

Exercise – regular aerobic, resistance training, and even circuit training. Walking, Nordic Walking (with walking poles), pool exercises, Pilates, and Yoga. While high pain tolerance may be useful in some situations, it also carries risks. Pain is a critical reaction in the body, giving a person warning about potentially harmful or dangerous stimuli in the environment. A very high pain tolerance or even an inability to feel pain can be dangerous. Example: a person may not realize a hot pan is burning them or may injure their body without fully being away of the extent of the injury.

“A tight muscle is a weak muscle”.

Oftentimes our muscles can be “perceived” as tight due to an underlying strength or stability deficit. Just because the muscle feels tight, does not always mean it needs to be loosened or lengthened. Often, muscles feel tight due to a subconscious attempt to provide additional stability to the joint – but the actual length of that muscle is normal. In order to counteract this feeling of tightness, we need to find and strengthen the muscle or group of muscles that are not providing the adequate strength and stability to the joint involved. The key is to balance out both strength and mobility of these muscle, through strengthening and stretching. Chiropractic adjustments provide a therapeutic effect to help with pain relief by restoring movement back to normal. Some studies also suggest that an adjustment can change and improve how the brain interprets pain, reduce inflammation, and improve muscle strength.