Osteopathy (Initial Assessment - £80/Follow-up sessions £70

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The experience of pain is highly subjective and unique to you.  Learning a little more about the underlying mechanisms of physical pain can help reframe your experience and empower you to do more about it.  The idea that pain originates from the area where we feel it is a concept that is still accepted by many, however it is one that the pain science community has rejected long ago.  This is due primarily to the fact that pain can exist in body parts that have been amputated (phantom-limb pain), pain can be present in the absence of any physical damage, and pain levels very often don't match the results of scans such as an X-ray or MRI.

A contemporary understanding of pain acknowledges that our brain and nervous system are the source of pain pathways, rather than our muscles, joints or bones.  Our bodies are constantly picking up information about our internal and external environment.  Our nervous system receives this information and, in an effort to protect us, will create the experience of pain if it feels we are in danger so that we change our behaviour.  This danger-detection system can be influenced by several factors such as sleep deprivation, emotional stress, social support, and our own appraisal of the situation.  Pain related to incidents such as trauma to muscles, bones and joints often disappears as the repair process progresses.  Persistent pain which can linger long after the healing process has finished is often driven by an overprotective and overactive nervous system.  In this case, the pain is most likely a reflection of increased sensitivity in the area, driven by a sense of perceived danger rather than actual danger.