The New Science of Pain
(Are you wired for pain? And how can you cut the connection?)

Your brain never stops developing and changing. Its been doing it from the time you were an embryo, and will keep on doing it all your life. And this ability, perhaps, represents its greatest strength. James Trefil

Two of the most common misconceptions concerning pain is that tissue damage must always occur to feel pain and that the feeling of pain is always proportional to the severity of tissue damage or injury. What is true, is that the perception of pain varies greatly between people, circumstances and even during different stages of life. Pain can also vary depending on changes within the nervous system that make it easier to feel pain or if there is any damaged tissue due to overuse, disuse, re-injury, weakness, atrophy, disease or limitations of matter. You will discover that consciousness, education, awareness, and action are essential for successful treatment.

Neurology may sound very dull, but if you understand how pain and your nervous system works you will be able to value the procedures in later chapters. The concepts and materials presented in this chapter are so important that you should read this entire chapter a few times. This is the foundation for your success with the program. Everything we do, feel, think, say, and experience has a neurological basis. The topics in this chapter include: basic neurology, pain, physiology of pain and the pain body.

Neurology 101
Your nervous system is typically divided into two sections; the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS). The central nervous system is made up of the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system basically consists of everything else, but is further divided into the somatic and the autonomic nervous systems.

We d't even know, that we don't even know, how much we dont know. Joseph Dispenza, DC

Central Nervous System
The brain and spinal cord is what we typically think of the nervous system. They both are encapsulated and protected by bone. The brain is considered the control center of the body. The spinal cord is the is the main line or connection from the brain to the rest of the body. Think of your brain is like a mega, super computer, and the spinal cord is like a fiber optic cable bundle. The spinal cord is our life line. Without it the brain loses much of its communication with the rest of the body. There are also reflexes that occur in our spinal cord that are essential for our body to function.

Your brain is approximately three pounds of soft, gray matter divided down the middle into two halves. Your brain is approximately 80 percent water. The brain accounts for about 2 percent of the bodys weight, yet it receives approximately 20% of total body oxygen consumption, 15% of the cardiac output, and 25% of total body glucose utilization. The central nervous system contains more than 100 billion neurons and processes millions of bits of information every second. The brain is broken up into parts for study and diagnostic purposes, but it functions as one with the body.

The brain is responsible functions such as; perception, attention, memory, emotion, learning, coordination of sensory systems, respiration, fine motor skills, walking, vision, hearing, smell, blood pressure, fluid balance, reading, body temperature, respiration, heart rate and much more. The brain truly amazing, but there is one area of the brain is particularly important for pain relief. This area is called the frontal lobe.

The frontal lobe is the general area of brain that has been found to play a role in the “executive functions of the entire nervous system. The centers for judgment, speech, emotions, complex thought, language, memory, motor function, socialization, planning, personality, sensory functions and behavior are all located in the frontal lobe. This area has the ability to override and suppress or stimulate other areas of the nervous and endocrine systems. There is also a rich neuronal input from the alert centers of the brain-stem, and limbic regions. So this is the central command center for the whole body.

Between stimulus and response, one has the freedom to choose. Stephen Covey

Peripheral Nervous System
The peripheral nervous system (PNS) for the most part consists of everything except the brain and spinal cord. The PNS transmits messages to and from the central nervous system.
It is further divided into the somatic and the autonomic nervous systems. The somatic nervous system is responsible for carrying sensory information from the body to the brain and coordinating movement. It is the system that regulates activities that are under conscious control by the brain, in other words we have some control over it. Theses nerves relay orders from the brain to the body or transmit sensory information to the brain from the body.
The autonomic nervous system regulates activities unconsciously or without us knowing about it. The autonomic nervous system is split into 3 divisions; the sympathetic division, parasympathetic division, and enteric division. The sympathetic nervous system responds to danger or stress, and is responsible for increased heart rate, The parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, is evident when a person is resting and feels relaxed, and is responsible for such things as the constriction of the pupil, the slowing of the heart, the dilation of the blood vessels, and the stimulation of the digestive and genitourinary systems. The role of the enteric nervous system is to manage every aspect of digestion, from the esophagus to the stomach, small intestine and colon.

Functional Overview
It is important to point out that although we divide the body and the nervous system into parts to better understand anatomy, physiology and disease. In reality the nervous system and body function as one complete system. With your nervous system having constant communication and feedback with virtually every aspect of your body. Your brain also catalogs or saves information and memories to make future decisions.

The more you learn about the nervous system, the more amazed and impressed you will be. The brain is the central command center for most of your bodily processes. Everything that you see, feel, hear, smell, taste, touch or think is brought to the attention of the brain. This includes pain. Your brain tells you about the different aspects of pain including location, severity, frequency, and different qualities of pain. Since the brain controls our perception of pain, you are able use your brain to influence pain. Many of the areas of the nervous system that deal with pain have been studied and identified. Theses areas include the pain receptors, nerves that carry pain, reflexes in the spinal cord and areas of the brain that deal with pain. Thankfully you have a frontal lobe, which is the area of the brain that can override pain and turn off or reset the pain system.

In our nervous system different types of receptors provide us with information. Such as touch, smell, vision, balance, taste, pressure, pain, and many other feelings. These receptors send information using peripheral nerves (wires) to the spinal cord (the main wire). Once in the spinal cord, reflexes occur and the information continues up the spinal cord to the brain. In the brain the information is received and relayed to different areas within brain. All this occurs in a fraction of a second, without us even thinking about it. The message is delivered, interpreted and then acted upon. The brain is able to modulate all the varieties of sensations based on

The nervous system can also predict or anticipate different sensations. For instance, you think a cup has orange juice in it and pick the cup up to drink it. Instead of orange juice the cup has milk in it. Your brain predicts the taste of orange juice and for a split second the milk tastes like orange juice . Another example is when you smell some food that makes your mouth water (secrets saliva) preparing to eat. Or, if get an injection and see the needle coming, you may feel the prick before the needle even touches your skin.

Another fascinating thing about the brain is that it catalogs all life experiences whether real or observed. Your brain does not differentiate between watching something on television, and an actual experience. Your brain still catalogs it for information purposes to be recalled at a later date. How many times have you heard, “well I saw it on TV? This is why it is important to guard what we think, see and hear to prevent negative mental programming.

The hard wired view of the nervous system is very practical for learning, but is not correct. In reality, the nervous system is very complicated and dynamic. The nervous system is obsessed with stimulation, adaptation and efficiency. For example; the more you play the piano, kick a soccer ball, shoot a basketball, read brail, ride a bike, drive a car or thousands of other things, the more your brain learns. The brain learns things so well that an activity can be trained to be perform on auto pilot. Have you ever driven home without thinking about the roads to take, or you typed without looking at the keys? We develop habits and addictions all the time and do not even know it. Some habits are good for us and some habits are bad for us.

The brain remains a dynamic structure that alters from year-to-year, day-to-day, even moment-to-moment over our lifespan. Richard Restak, MD.

We know that the brain catalogs and organizes your experiences, sensations, emotions, and thoughts. The brain uses this information for responses to future events, and over time can develop habits or addictions. Your brain may also use the stored information to predict or anticipate future events. The brain does all this automatically and instinctively. The frontal lobe is the area of the brain that give you the conscious ability to override the bodys unconscious responses, reflexes, habits, or additions. You have the power to be in control, but you must consciously work to make changes.

Neuroplasticity
While DNA helps to determine what kind of brain you start with, your life experiences determine how your brain will develop and work over your lifetime. Your nervous system never stops learning and adapting but the early years are the most important. This is when we lay the framework for our neural network. Amazingly, we are born with an excess of brain cells. These excess cells and neural connections in the brain die off when they are not stimulated. The saying, use it or lose it is a neurological fact.

In the first few years of your life, neuron growth occurs at an amazing rate, allowing us to learn, remember, speak, and move. Beginning with puberty, the growth rate slows down. These early life experiences link neurons to each other and build the foundation for future neural connections (memory) in your brain. This is why it is important for children to have positive experiences because much of our neural circuitry is put in place in childhood. With up to 80% of all brain development occurring before the age of 6. We rely on these early connections as we build new connections thought our life. This neurological foundation is what shapes our future views, memories, thoughts, feelings and all other neurological functions.

Neuroplasticity refers to the changes that occurs in the organization of your nervous system as a result your experiences, thoughts and actions. Each time we have a neurological event, the brain creates either a new synaptic connection (new memory) or reuses an old synaptic connection (old memory). If you do not use these connections the unused connections will simply die off and the more you use a connection the more efficient the process gets.

Neuroplasticity involves not only the changes within the nervous system, but also the secondary chemical and physical changes within the body. These hormones and neuro peptides Physical changes can include degeneration, atrophy, cancer.

Cells that fire together, wire together. Donald Hebb, PhD.

Knowledge allows the brain to re-wire and break habits or addictions. The more you use the frontal lobe to control the rest of the nervous system the easier it becomes. Another way of thinking about the frontal lobe is that it is where you make up your mind.

Neural Network
The brain is made up of tiny nerve cells called neurons, these neurons have tiny branch like structures that reach out and connect with other neurons. Each place where a neuron connects with another neuron is called a synapse or synaptic connection. The pattern and way our neurons connection to each other forms our neural network. These connections form our ideas, thoughts, and memories. Every single connection has an influence on our future thoughts and actions. Billions of neurons communicate across these synapses, allowing every thought, sensation, and event to be trace (new memory) or retrace (old memory) neural pathways. There may be only a few hundred or as many as 200,000 such synaptic connections to each neuron.

Habits are the hardest things to break. Unknown

If we have a new experience the neurons make new synaptic connections or trace new pathways. If we have an experience that as already been traced then the neurons use already established pathway or retraces the pathway. This is why “repetition is the mother of all learning. The more a synaptic connection is used the easier it is retraced. If you practice some thing over and over, you are re-wiring and strengthening your “neural network. You can also break synaptic connections by not using the neuro pathway.

Neural pruning is the term that is used to describe neurons dieing off when not being used. By changing our

Cells that do not fire together, no longer wire together. Joseph Dispenza, DC

Everything we say, see, do, hear, smell, feel, touch, taste, think and our emotions cause synaptic connections. Different emotions and experiences can synapse with other associated neurons to create our associated neural network. Because our body is so aware of its surroundings and is constantly adapting. Different senses, emotions, and experiences can link together. Anger, depression and stress can be linked to pain. If you feel any of the associated emotions, you also feel pain.

If for example when growing up, your grandmother whom you loved very much. Always baked apple pie when you came to visit and to this day you can still remember how good the fresh baked pie smelled. And the pie was the best apple pie you ever tasted. That was 30 years ago and to this day if you smell freshly baked apple pie. You think about your grandmother, feel loved, remember your childhood experiences and your mouth starts to water. Your neural network, remembers this and release chemicals related to the experience. This is often referred to as your associated memory. This is why our previous experiences, stereo types and opinions shape our future thoughts, actions, and beliefs.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of synaptic connections associated with each neuron. Just the act of thinking about a special person in your life, can connect with joy or happiness and will cause a smile. Over our lifetime different thoughts, emotions, experiences, sensations and memories associate together to form our neural network.

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. Carl W. Buechner

The complexity of our neural network is almost beyond comprehension. Over a lifetime, each person will have different experiences, thoughts, ideas, values and education. It is this neural network that shapes our present and future thoughts, opinions, and actions. The more synaptic connections we have relating to experiences of pain, learned or observed, the more we feel or associate with pain.

The more neural connections and synapses (repetition) you have for a particular sensation or function the stronger neurologically the synapse is. Your brain also connects smells, sounds, feelings, emotions and other sensations which also make the neural connections stronger. The brain is considered neuroplastic or changing because in responds to life experiences, and then alters its structure and function. Our brain is constantly learning, altering and adapting. But the more you use and re-trace parts of your neural network, the function appears to be hard wired or automatic. Use it or lose it practice makes perfect and repetition is the mother of all learning& are not just an expressions, they are neurological facts.

Knowledge allows the you to become aware of the brains power to change and become the observer. Neuroplasticity makes it easier to do some things automatically, but it is also why habits or addictions are difficult to break. How does neuroplasticity relate to pain? How can you use neuroplasticity to your advantage?

Whatever any man does he first must do in his mind, whose machinery is the brain. The mind can do only what the brain is equipped to do, and so man must find out what kind of brain he has before he can understand his own behavior. Gay Gaer Luce, PhD. And Julius Segal, Sleep

What Is Pain?

The International Association for the Study of Pain has defined pain as, an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage. This is a widely accepted and important definition because it states that pain can be due to tissue damage or no tissue damage. Most of us only associate pain with tissue damage. You skin you knee, twist your back or sprain your ankle and you feel pain. It is often difficult to comprehend how pain can occur without tissue damage. It is important to realize that the perception of pain is neurologically multifactoral and always subjective. Pain is good for us. Over millions of years, the nervous system has developed the ability to experience pain as a protective system to warn us of imminent dangers and to keep us out of danger.

Some definitions you should know:

Algesia: Is your sensitivity to pain.

Analgesia: Absence of pain in response to stimulation which would normally be painful.

Hypoalgesia: Diminished pain in response to a normally painful stimulus.

Hyperalgesia: An increased response to a stimulus which is normally painful.

Allodynia: Pain due to a stimulus which does not normally provoke pain.

Pain Threshold: The least experience of pain which a subject can recognize.

Pain Tolerance Level: The greatest level of pain which a subject is prepared to tolerate.