Breaking the Pain Cycle

By Courtenay Massage Therapy

Stress in the body can come from a variety of causes- including mechanical (poor posture), emotional (conflicts, loss), or trauma (MVA, fall). All of these stressors can cause the same reaction in our bodies- pain. Pain can often result in a cycle which looks like this: pain initiates reflex muscle contraction in nearby muscles- the contracting muscles become ischemic (reduced blood supply) leading to spasm and more pain. The pain cycle will continue unless something intervenes to stop it. Enter massage. According to Melzack and Wall’s Gate Control Theory, non-painful sensory input closes “gates” to the spinal cord so the painful stimulus cannot travel to the central nervous system, thereby interrupting the pain cycle. Simply put, when you bump your elbow and immediately begin to rub the area, you are activating sensory nerve fibers that are faster at sending messages to your brain than the fibers that transmit pain.

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