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Chronic Pain: Beyond Medication and Surgery

Chronic Pain Facts

Did you know that 24% of U.S. adults experience chronic pains most day or every day?

That’s almost 1 in 4… as in 1 person in your family or friend group may be experiencing chronic pain every day.

  • It’s more likely to affect women than men
  • Chronic pain has increased 13% in Americans due to long covid

This is a very real issue that is happening to millions of people each and every day.

What’s worse is that people who experience chronic pain have often been suffering for a long time. They have tried medications, surgery, physical therapy, and more. Perhaps some treatments offered relief but it doesn’t always stay.

Then, when they go back to the doctor to get help, some are told “it’s anxiety” or that it’s all in their heads. Imagine how frustrating that must be?

But the thing is, although pain is not always visible, it is a very real experience that people live with each and every day. So what’s left to explore? What alternative solutions are out there? 

New Solutions for Chronic Pain

Many people are now learning that working with the brain and nervous system can significantly decrease pain. Why? Because that’s where the signals originate, in the brain. 

Pain is two things: peripheral sensation and interpretation from the brain. Pain occurs when our body tissues’ receptors detect damage. The signal is then sent via nerves and the nervous system to the brain to be processed as pain.

Without a brain or brainstem, you could not feel or interpret pain.

In chronic pain, the tissue damage may have healed however the pain is still there.

Therefore, it makes a lot of sense for someone who is experiencing chronic pain to not only address the physical body but also the brain and nervous system that is processing or holding the pain.

Treating the physical body but not the brain is like turning off a smoke alarm without putting out the fire.

How Hypnosis Brings Relief to Chronic Pain

Hypnosis increases connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the insula in the brain. This means hypnosis connects our thinking mind (executive function) with the insula, the part of the brain that maps internal body states and processes sensation.

This connection enhances focus and regulation of our level of discomfort. Think of if you’ve ever had a toothache and watched a movie to distract yourself… and during the film you forget about the pain.

The brain is able to focus on managing the pain better and not pay as much attention to it allowing it to fade into the background.

This can feel like a huge relief for people who have been suffering for long periods of time!

So if you or anyone you know is suffering from chronic pain and feel like you’ve tried everything to manage but are not feeling better, it might be the right time to consider hypnosis or other mind-body modalities that target the brain and nervous system.

As a certified hypnotherapist and pain control specialist, I offer an 8-week pain control package to help address the brain and nervous system components to chronic pain.

Connect with Steph at Heart Spark Hypnotherapy.

If you have any questions or would like to schedule a free phone consult, you can email me at [email protected] or call/text (805) 267-9408

Stephanie

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