That pain in your back? It's a pain in your brain

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-01-29/chronic-pain-health-wellness-mind-body

by michaelrkn • 2 years ago

37 12 2 years ago

latimes.com

bamboozled• 2 years ago

It’s arguably a pain in the universe since your brain is in the universe.

gattilorenz• 2 years ago

I certainly hope your back is in the universe too, otherwise the pain is very justified

phmqk76• 2 years ago

Biofeedback has always intrigued me as a pain management device, although it went from being in the popular consciousness to not being talked about anymore. If there’s any validity to it, that could be a killer feature of VR - a headset that connects to biofeedback sensors, and uses its own sensors, in immersive biofeedback routines. Thats a use case that would justify the cost of Quest 3 (or even Apple Vision) alone.

lincolnpark• 2 years ago

That's what we're working on. Check out our work. I run a company called Karuna Labs

Terr_• 2 years ago

This reminds me of how phantom pain (such as from a missing arm) maybe treatable by using the rubber hand illusion.

"Hey brain, you can see it's undamaged and sending signals that kinda-match other input, so calm down and reset the alarm..."

5555624• 2 years ago

The "illusion" is the idea behind Mirror Therapy for amputees -- the mirror makes it look like there are two limbs and the brain receives information that both limbs are intact and functional. A trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that it was effective for reducing phantom pain after 4 weeks of regular practice. I've heard people say it helps and others say it didn't. I've never tried it, since -- luckily -- phantom pain has not been an issue for me.

KevinMS• 2 years ago

this theory has been around a long time

https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Back-Pain-first-Text/dp/B004T...

winrid• 2 years ago

I did find that my RSI etc was always way worse doing work I hated. Maybe there's some kinda feedback loop there, or with stress.

Been almost gone since I got into better jobs.

rsithroway• 2 years ago

So I had horrible RSI wrist pain using a computer that no ergo keyboard or touchpad/mouse could solve and I did eventually figure out the source and get better, in part from discussions here on HN. Talking to other people who overcame RSI, they recommended the book The Mindbody Prescription by Dr. John Sarno. So I got the book and I did get better, even though over 90% of the book is Freudian quackery I just skimmed over.

The 10% meat of the book presents evidence the brain has the ability to control bloodflow to extremities. For example, we all know an embarrassed person can blush red in the face due to increased bloodflow caused by the brain processing the emotion of embarrassment. And reproductive arousal certainly involves bloodflow to various regions (not just genitals, but also lips and nipples for women, etc.).

So the theory is that the brain can restrict bloodflow to the arms which causes the numbness and burning that so many with RSI wrist/hand pain experience. The brain does this to us in response to us not processing certain negative emotions. In my case it was abuse from a parent I never consciously thought about. The book goes into stories such as a woman who was sexually abused by her father who, once she began consciously processing her hurt and rage, literally started crying out the chronic pain in her back. I had a somewhat similar experience, but slower and less dramatic. I had tremendous anger at the abusive parent and telling myself "I AM MAD AS F---ING HELL" made the pain go away.

Before this I literally tried thousands on ergo equipment, tried stretches and exercises and pushups and all that, none of it worked. It was my brain causing the problem, and my reluctance to not see it as a brain health issue made my healing process much slower.

JEzra100• 2 years ago

+1, I experienced a very similar cure for carpal tunnel/RSI pain. After two years of pain, I learned about John Sarno's work from a Reddit post, and it took took about ten days to get better. Couldn't recommend this more highly. Yes, I realize that if you've been living with pain, this sounds like us telling you that the Force is real. But at the end of the day, what do you have to lose by trying? Here are the most useful links that got me started.

- Check out the 20/20 Video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qwFjKYlbf4 - TMSWiki.org has lots of resources, testimonials, and their SEP (Structured Education Program) which is a day by day learning program. https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Structured_Educational_Program

GauntletWizard• 2 years ago

A fairly different form of anecdote: The pro Starcraft player, Byun, had wrist issues to the point of pausing the game in the middle of matches (a big no-no). He's stated that it's purely psychological, and that therapy has helped him fix it - And indeed, it's been 2 years since he was having really bad issues and his flare-ups seem quite rare now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbg7lNkESh4 https://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/u9o8xl/comment/i...

apantel• 2 years ago

Dr John Sarno got all of this right in the 90’s. Thirty years ago.

That pain in your back? It's a pain in your brain

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