The Pain Relief Secret: How to Retrain Your Nervous System, Heal Your Body, and Overcome Chronic Pain

amygdala is overactive, our reactions to pain are intensified, making our pain feel worse than it actually is.

The process of sensitization plays a role in the transition from acute to chronic pain.

Acidity and energy depletion lead to muscle fatigue—the state at which we feel like we simply can’t go on. If we stop to rest

Inflammation that occurs immediately after an injury or infection, called acute inflammation, isolates and disposes of pathogens, allows damaged cells to be removed from the area, and initiates the healing process.

with a prescription from a doctor or a surgical procedure. We must actively retrain our nervous system to release subconsciously held muscle tension and change painful posture and movement patterns.

Compared to control subjects, chronic pain patients are shown to have between 5% and 11% less volume in the neocortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher functions such as rational thought, language, spatial reasoning, motor control, and sensory perception. This decrease is equivalent to the effect that 10–20 years of normal aging has on

You can imagine how critical muscle memory was to our survival hundreds of thousands of years ago. Back then, only the fastest and fittest of our ancestors survived, and the ability to move quickly and automatically under stress

The amygdala, along with the hippocampus and the rest of the limbic system, helps process emotional reactions and memories. Prolonged high levels of glucocorticoids actually enhance amygdala function, stimulating neuron growth and making synapses more active and sensitive.

it’s important to understand that the more often your nociceptors are stimulated, the more sensitization is likely to occur. So, running on an already injured and painful knee will not only damage the joint further, but may also increase the amount of pain you feel in the future.