Understanding your pain

What is the purpose of pain?

Our normal understanding of pain is that it serves to protect us. In the past, we’ve only understood pain as:

• A warning system that tells us of damage or that there is something wrong
• It is part of our pre-programmed emergency system
• It is designed to be a strong, distressing, and unpleasant ‘message’ for us to take notice and to keep us alive. 

We experience a new unpleasant sensation, we check it out or seek help, get a diagnosis and a treatment. An example of this is when we touch a hot saucepan, this sends a signal to the brain and we respond by drawing our hand away and putting it under running water. Some of the response is pre-programmed or automatic and some of it depends on experience and context. A chef, after repeated history of burning their hand may have a different experience of this type of pain to someone who cooks occasionally at home. 

Pain is not just in the head or just in the body. Pain is part of a signalling process within the nervous system and doesn’t become pain until it’s processed in the brain. The nervous system is made up of nerves, the spinal cord, and the brain. It is constantly checking everything. When it detects a potential threat, the nerves will send messages to the spinal cord and brain to signal danger and as a result it will trigger many processes that create a pain experience. This experience of pain is like an alarm to alert you to take action.  However we also know that pain can continue, a long time after an injury, even when the threat has gone and the tissues have healed. This is referred to as persistent pain. It no longer serves a helpful purpose and people with this condition can suffer greatly.