Session 3. Tipping The Balance
In this session we continue to talk about identifying and reducing those things that may worsen pain while exploring approaches to reduce pain or increase our body’s resilience. Remember you don’t have to make everything perfect, you just need to tip the balance.
Key themes today:
- Persisting pain occurs because our pain systems become sensitised by various influences. Seek out tools to calm the system.
- Other than our injuries, many factors including stress, poor diet, poor sleep and lack of exercise all contribute to inflammation, immune ill-health, and ongoing pain. Significant emotional distress earlier in life or around the time of injury may also ‘prime’ the brain and pain systems to become more protective. Addressing some (does not need to be all) of these issues often helps to calm the system.
- Motivation for a big task like tackling long term pain can be hard. START with setting goals that are IMPORTANT to you and reflect your values. “If pain was less of a problem for you, what would you be doing?”
JUMP TO OTHER SESSION INFO…