Not Everything is a Nerve Problem

As physiotherapists we go through fashion trends. Or we sensationalize ideas before they are proven and often take them too far. In our profession I think the pendulum as swung far in one direction (rightly so) and is now swing back. For some time now modern pain science has showed us that “all pain is related to the Nervous System”. And this is a good thing to understand and pain neuroscience education can be useful to a patient. Neuroplasticity concepts are important.  However, we might have gone too far in one direction and mistakenly informed the patient that they are dealing with a “nerve problem” or nerve pain. Focusing too much on neural tissue anatomy and overly complicated conversation about pain being an alarm.

It’s fair to say that all pain is related to the NS, but it’s not fair to say that all pain is nerve pain.

To our physiotherapist out there, saying it’s only the nervous system is a close parallel to the idea “I need to find the tissue at fault”, when investigating someone’s pain experience. This is to myopic. When need to consider all systems, and “the mechanism” behind the pain experience.  

 There is more to this conversation, but it’s too in depth for this post. More to come later. For now, let’s just say if pain is your problem you should first understand the mechanism behind your pain (not necessarily the tissue at fault). Secondly, to get rid of pain, focus on unlearn pain.

That’s all for now.

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