A few weeks back I went on a course about pain and I find it an interesting subject. Last month I wrote a blog about a few things I learned that I found very interesting. Today I want to share what other factors can influence pain.

1. Previous experience

If you have previously experienced an injury, your brain remembers it and when you do something similar to what caused the original injury, it is possible that the brain will take this into account and create pain to stop you doing it again – a protection mechanism that more often than not gets in our way. The pain might even start earlier than when you had the original injury.
Female runner athlete back injury and pain. Woman suffering from painful lumbago or kidney illness while running in rural road.

2. Beliefs

Believe it or not, your beliefs can influence pain. For example, if you were conditioned to think (perhaps as you were growing up) that your spine is fragile there is a chance you will feel back pain quicker than someone who believes their spine is strong. More and more research is proving the beneficial effects of a positive mindset.

3. Health

Your general health in terms of your level of stress, lack of sleep, smoking, depression and poor nutrition can all have a bearing on how much pain you feel. If you can improve at least one of these things it can already help you towards reducing pain.

I don’t want to make light of pain as I know for many it is very debilitating. However, taking more ownership of pain and working together with a therapist or coach who can guide you rather than “fix” you can help you be more independent in your recovery.

In the last blog about pain I included this video. If you didn’t get a chance to see it I would highly recommend it.

Author: Lorna Wilson

Like what you see? Then send me a message or e-mail. We can meet up for a chat and find out how I can help you improve your training and help reduce injury risk.
06 460 377 74 / lorna@wilsonsworkouts.nl