Chronic Pain

How Our Minds Heal Our Bodies: Why Understanding The Placebo And Nocebo Effect Can Help You Manage Chronic Pain

My daughter, now ten, was diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis when she was three years old. Over the past seven years she has shown incredible resilience and has managed her chronic pain, joint injections and endless hospital appointments with humbling strength and determination but it has been a real struggle at times. About a year ago, she experienced a particularly bad and extended period of pain and stiffness. She needed pain relief daily but over-the-counter medication (Ibuprofen) began causing her gastric irritation.

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Could Your Personality Be Contributing To Your Chronic Pain?

Almost a year ago, I developed lower back pain. At first I thought I had pulled a muscle ducking under a tree branch while out running with a friend.

I took it easy for a few days and the pain seemed to subside. But then it came back, and with a vengeance. It remained with me on and off for a year and was often so severe that I had to hold onto pieces of furniture to support myself when rising from a chair or my bed, or when brushing my teeth.

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The Link Between The Nocebo Effect And Chronic Pain

We’ve all been there some time or other: we get injured or start experiencing some form of pain, and the people around us will all come up with their own suggestions, sometimes even with a full retelling of their own painful experience;

“Don’t carry too much weight!”, “Be careful at the gym!”, “it took very long to get better after I got that”, or, the worst of the worst: “Your pain might be chronic”.

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