Everybody knows them and nobody wants them – pain. It is disturbing and unpleasant, yet it is an important protective mechanism of our brain. Acute pain has a necessary warning function to prevent tissue damage, and it informs us where irritations, wounds or inflammations have occurred. In addition, there are acute pains of a neurological nature that are triggered by certain movements or in certain situations.
What does our brain want to tell us with it actually?
The classic case of reaching for the hot stove top shows that our sense of pain often saves us from serious injury and leads to important learning processes as early as childhood. But there is also the chronic pain, which can be provocatively described as misinformation of the brain. Chronic pain persists even though its actual cause has already subsided. Here, our nervous system no longer regulates inhibition as it should. That makes for many humans, who suffer from it, the everyday life heavily.
A complex issue for which there is no panacea
Back pain and headaches in particular have a high rate of chronification and have long been among the biggest health problems in Germany. The bad news is, there is no panacea or ultimate tip on how to relieve this pain. The subject is far too complex for that and the cause is too individual.
The good news is, there are personal trainers like Nikolai Kuhlwein, who deal extensively with the topic of neurotraining to be able to help their clients in the best possible way. Many neurotrainers orient themselves thereby to Dr. Eric Cobb from the USA. The latter is considered one of the world's leading experts in neurologically oriented rehabilitation and sports performance programs.
The possibility of training one's brain and achieving significant improvements in mobility, strength and perception with relatively little effort has always fascinated the sports and health industry. Pain is a common issue, especially among people who do not play sports.
Pain does not always mean injury
The ultimate goal, of course, is to relieve pain, for this, with neurological origins, it plays a crucial role to understand how pain works in the body and what its purpose is. Understanding of the interaction between the brain and the body plays a major role in this process. Because when we feel pain, what we actually experience is the brain's need to respond to something.
Pain does not always mean injury.
It is an alarm signal from the nervous system to the brain. In this way, pain can also be understood as a warning signal in the brain. The so-called pain receptors play a special role as damage detectors in this context. These constantly relay information to our brain, which then has to decide which messages are really relevant. Non-relevant ones are blocked. The decision to do so is based in particular on our own previous experiences. Thus, if signals are allowed to pass, pain is created in the brain and allows us to experience it in the affected area.
In neurotraining, the goal is to regain inhibition of the signals and thus to mitigate the perception of pain or even make it disappear completely. Other consequences that arise In addition to pain are reduced strength, performance or mobility of the body. After a medical clarification and exclusion of injuries or diseases, the goal should be not to let the pain stop you from being active. Because it has been proven many times that physical activity is one of the best preventive measures you can take against pain in almost all cases.
Bringing the nervous system into balance
We all have to cope with many challenges every day. This has its effects on body and mind. Anything that stresses our nervous system will cause it not to react as we would like it to react. Such a complex system, which also controls our perception of pain, can sometimes get out of balance.
The core of the issue is to stress our nervous system so that it acts for us and our needs. The advantage is that we can influence this to a certain extent. Through targeted exercises, our nerve functions can be optimized in such a way that physical performance increases. This is an important aspect both in neuroathletics training with competitive athletes, but also for working with pain patients. And it doesn't always have to be hours of extensive training, even smaller exercises that only take up about 5 minutes a day can provide relief. After all, we all want to have the freedom to do what we want within our physical means. Many are unnecessarily limited by pain.