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Yoga for Pain Relief Quotes
Yoga for Pain Relief: Simple Practices to Calm Your Mind and Heal Your Chronic Pain
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Kelly McGonigal303 ratings, 4.23 average rating, 36 reviews
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“Neuroplasticity: Why the Nervous System Gets Better at Pain
Why does past pain make you more sensitive to future pain? You can thank one of the great wonders of our nervous system: its ability to learn in response to experience. This ability is called neuroplasticity. Typically, it means that the nervous system gets better at what it’s asked to do.
Neuroplasticity is extremely helpful for learning of all forms, including learning a new skill, such as juggling or balancing on one leg. Because the nervous system learns from experience, the brain gets better at making sense of the feedback it gets from the body. It also gets better at telling the body what to do. In the case of balancing on one leg, the nervous system becomes more sensitive to signs that you are in danger of falling. The nervous system also becomes more skilled at using that information to trigger a physical response that will keep you in balance. This is not so different from how the nervous system can “get better” at being in pain. Through the repeated experience of pain, the nervous system gets better at detecting threat and producing the protective pain response (Petersen-Felix and Curatolo 2002). So unfortunately, in the case of chronic pain, the wonder of neuroplasticity turns out not to be so wonderful. Learning from experience and getting “better” at pain paradoxically means more pain, not less.
Keep in mind, however, that neuroplasticity makes any response you practice more likely. This is true not only for the pain-and-stress responses but also for healing responses like relaxation, acceptance, and gratitude. Neuroplasticity provides an explanation for chronic pain but also a solution.”
― Yoga for Pain Relief: Simple Practices to Calm Your Mind and Heal Your Chronic Pain
Why does past pain make you more sensitive to future pain? You can thank one of the great wonders of our nervous system: its ability to learn in response to experience. This ability is called neuroplasticity. Typically, it means that the nervous system gets better at what it’s asked to do.
Neuroplasticity is extremely helpful for learning of all forms, including learning a new skill, such as juggling or balancing on one leg. Because the nervous system learns from experience, the brain gets better at making sense of the feedback it gets from the body. It also gets better at telling the body what to do. In the case of balancing on one leg, the nervous system becomes more sensitive to signs that you are in danger of falling. The nervous system also becomes more skilled at using that information to trigger a physical response that will keep you in balance. This is not so different from how the nervous system can “get better” at being in pain. Through the repeated experience of pain, the nervous system gets better at detecting threat and producing the protective pain response (Petersen-Felix and Curatolo 2002). So unfortunately, in the case of chronic pain, the wonder of neuroplasticity turns out not to be so wonderful. Learning from experience and getting “better” at pain paradoxically means more pain, not less.
Keep in mind, however, that neuroplasticity makes any response you practice more likely. This is true not only for the pain-and-stress responses but also for healing responses like relaxation, acceptance, and gratitude. Neuroplasticity provides an explanation for chronic pain but also a solution.”
― Yoga for Pain Relief: Simple Practices to Calm Your Mind and Heal Your Chronic Pain
