Understanding pain

Pain is a complex experience and can be affected by a number of different factors, due to this the healing process is not always linear and can have a number of ups and downs. The best way to demonstrate how different factors can affect pain is to look at the pain cycle.

The above graphic shows a number of factors that can have an effect on the pain that we experience. Each of these factors feeds into the next factor - for example, the side effect of some medication is weight gain, when we gain weight we can start to have negative thoughts.

As a healthcare professional, I am to help reduce the pain that you are experiencing, this is through ensuring that the body is functioning to its best ability, however, I can also suggest exercises to help keep you mobile and get more active, or signpost you to someone who can help any of the other factors within the pain cycle.

The most important part of pain management is to keep moving!