Why Should You Pay Attention to Pain in Your Body?

What is pain? It's something beyond the Ibuprofen and Tylenol you take into your system from time to time. It's your body speaking and communicating situations to your brain in an effort to arrest the effects of a harmful agent. It is the result of the brain processing nervous signals from various sources. At a cellular level, these include the effects of chemical, mechanical, and thermal stimuli that stimulate peripheral nerves when they have reached an intensity that suggests injury. The injured tissue releases chemicals like histamine, arachidonic acid, nerve growth factor, substance P, protein kinases, etc.

Pain in various body parts secondary to nociception:

• Skin—The stimuli for pain include chemical, mechanical, thermal and allergic, infectious, and malignant causes, as well as other components.

• Visceral organs—The stimuli for pain include inflammation secondary to infection, mechanical trauma, traction of organs, chemical stimuli, infiltration of organs secondary to malignancy, etc.

• Joints—The stimuli include mechanical, chemical, infectious, malignant, and inflammatory pathways.

• Muscular—The stimuli include mechanical secondary to exertion, trauma, inflammation, infiltration, and chemical stimuli.

Chronic pain:

• It is important to note that ¼ of the population in the United States suffers from a chronic form of pain; this indicates pain that has been present for 3 months or longer and originating from various sources.

• This has caused an enormous burden on our healthcare system and also contributed to the opioid crisis that we as physicians are trying very hard to curb.

• It is important to note that chronic pain is often associated with depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders. People with chronic pain also face an increased risk for suicide.

What is the solution?

• Along with lifestyle and traditional medications, precision medicine may offer a solution to this chronic pain crisis.

• This is where physicians classify patients into categories that are based on prognosis, cell biology, and treatment response. This way, more effective treatment options can be tailored to help and assist the patient better.

• Lifestyle and nutrition: It is a well-known fact that lifestyle approaches like diet, nutrition, exercise, strength training, sleep hygiene, and habit surveillance (i.e., for smoking, unhealthy diets, sedentary living, and mental health issues) all help contribute to a multimodal approach to pain management. It is no longer the one-size-fits-all approach that has led us down the slippery slope of opioid dependency and tolerance. 

As I have elaborated, we need to change our approach to have a better outcome. We have to examine the way we have perceived pain in the past and look to incorporate a multimodal precision medicine approach to pain management. So the next time you pop a Motrin, Aleve, or Tylenol, listen to your body and make a symptom diary of association—in most cases, you will find the source of your noxious stimuli. Also, stay in partnership with your physician in open dialogue with a focus on health and nutrition, and live long and strong!