Pain and the brain | Julia Gover | TEDxNorthwich

[@leahswitzer]

As a health care provider I couldn't love this more! I wish I spoke with as much clarity to my patients but I am trying!

[@moho.tube9]

I have been crying for 30 minutes for my neck and back pain.. Now I feel your words deep in my soul. I feel better now thank you so much ♥️

[@stoner2055]

I’m right there with you brother , been bedridden a couple years ! I’m not sure how to pull myself out of neck/ back pain !!! Lost hope a million times Over , keep picking myself up and fighting 🙏

[@moho.tube9]

@@stoner2055 Thank you brother 🙏🏻

[@mandscooper]

Wonderful succinct summary of the state of understanding of pain that exists in the Research world and is slowly making its way in to the hearts and minds of practitioners. Its too slow for many however, who are still told daily that specific structures in their spines are the sole cause of their pain which can set them up for long term pain. The missing link here is understanding pain without judging, and support to tackle all the contributing factors to a pain experience.

[@curiouskitty7972]

The only way to understand chronic pain is to experience it. Practitioners can't be bothered because it's too time consuming and complicated. Pills and exercises are often ineffective

[@OfEdenEast]

@@curiouskitty7972 I think you're right in many respects. There's a difference between understanding the mechanism and understanding the experience. Doctors are capable of some degree of empathy but your experience will be unique to you. But a pain specialist should be able to help their patients even if they are not in pain, the same way an oncologist can treat cancer even if they don't have it themselves.

[@weewee2701]

@@OfEdenEast excellent point

[@AlexDelfont]

There should be a credit to Dr John Sarno here, he's been talking about this for decades

[@OfEdenEast]

Yes, there's lots of great researchers looking into this, and it was first described back in the 40s by Beecher. But it's still so little known.

[@DanielleCrookMusic]

Yeah…thanks to him, doctors have dismissed me for four separate chronic pain conditions that had actual causes, and were resolvable, and not just “pain in my brain.” So very thankful for more doctors giving others the green light to dismiss chronic pain patients. 🙄No amount of therapy, meditation, breathwork, lifestyle changes, physical therapy, and emotional processing can help you overcome pain without finding the root cause. Doctors refusing to look for it and insisting you just have a “pain problem” is a travesty.

[@YUBSOMEAN]

@@DanielleCrookMusic well said. I was dismissed for decades while having a broken facet joint. This lecture gives ammunition to doctors to dismiss the dangers. When eventually I was diagnosed I had medics all around me asking how I had survived and why I did nothing about it sooner. Take it seriously and listen to the patient is my advice!

[@elizabethmcleod246]

@@DanielleCrookMusicThat’s exactly the problem. Doctors don’t listen to their patients anymore. They don’t examine the patient and they don’t do a proper differential diagnosis. Way too many people who have genuine acute body pain are being brushed off as having a mental health imbalance. It’s far easier to just prescribe medications when in fact their are other diagnostic treatments that could help to determine the patients real diagnosis. It’s appalling the number of people being left in acute pain and not getting proper medical care. Many people die and a very large proportion of these people end up disabled from incompetent and negligent care.

[@prabchandhok]

Great talk and material for those individuals suffering and practitioners alike. Thanks Julia, great communicator.

[@OfEdenEast]

Thank you

[@megancrager4397]

This just gasses up the doctors to continue telling us chronic sufferers it's "all in your head". I don't think doctors need their laziness & medical gaslighting validated.

[@andreaarancibia9607]

Fantastico, liberador y ojala mas personas cambiaran paradigmas y se liberaran del miedo para poder recuperar la libertad. Gracias

[@cassettepat]

Incredible talk 👏 we are fundamentally strong

[@curiouskitty7972]

Chronic pain is damaging my brain... It interferes with my thoughts and memory... No amount of exercise is helping. I am very flexible but every week my walking distance is decreasing. I feel like I am going insane or developing dementia. I cannot even focus on a conversation when my pain levels are above 7 and I used to be very eloquent. I am not on any opioids. Can the pain signals totally take over the brain because that's how I feel

[@giftchiposipho8967]

Patricia Crawford. I was trying to figure that out about two hours before i watched this clip.I assume any kind of chronic pain does affects our mental health as well. It causes diseases and disease causes discomfort and throws our bodies and minds into disarray.I am not a doctor at all but i think some chronic pain can be treated by the so called mental health medication such as kitomine.Why because the brain area that affects our emotional pain is the same that affects our phsical pain.

[@brooklodge3649]

Patricia Crawford perhaps look into reading John Sarnos books on the mind and chronic pain, you may find help there

[@curiouskitty7972]

@@brooklodge3649 thanks for the recommendation! I found even more than i was looking for. I really appreciate your taking the time to recommend this

[@joannapye7139]

Patricia if you are very flexible with pain, I recommend researching Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Just a thought.

[@curiouskitty7972]

@@joannapye7139 thank you so much. I will indeed!

[@AcornHealthUK]

Fantastic and such an important message- well done Julia!

[@paulacohen-taylory]

Love this talk Julia, this makes so much sense!

[@lowbacksolutions]

I would agree with this if it wasn’t so easy to treat pain based on the tissue damage. Tissue damage can be a direct relationship with pain. And if you stop the consistent tissue damage you can stop the pain. Spinal decompression has worked wonders for people with back pain and it can be done by just doing pull ups or hanging from a bar.

[@edgreen8140]

Cingulate gyrus in the brain. Facet joint, cervical spondylitic myelopathy and lumbar stenosis.

[@helenstrother801]

One of the highlights of the first TEDxNorthwich - exceptional content and so brilliantly delivered.

[@YUBSOMEAN]

If, like me, you have had Traumatic back injury, then please do prioritise good posture, protection etc. Her advice is only for the healthy body. Our own brains use pain to protect us after time this does get out of control. But I think she is dangerously dismissive of the weakness in an injured spine!!

[@vijaygowda6786]

Motion in Lotion ! I will remember that for a long time .. Brilliant lecture … Thanks a ton .. Hope this one helps my wife..

[@tiagociriaco7380]

Pain is "pressure" produced by excess of heat. HEAT causes dilatation of cells and consequent pressure. The head is a solid block that cannot expand much, so the pain implodes and becomes unbearable.

[@suzettesaxton2264]

How I wish it were this simple!

[@RaphaWasHere]

It it's i'm almost our of 7 years of cronic symptoms due tl this concept

[@spencerwolverton8482]

@@RaphaWasHere I’d like to hear you experience and perspective, mind sharing here or in a DM?

[@RaphaWasHere]

@@spencerwolverton8482 ofcourse You can write me if You want to i'll be glad to talk

[@humblethegreat5431]

How?

[@MukeshKumar-jo3jl]

@@humblethegreat5431 So if I were to state as an example. Someone's legs ache only after 10 mins of walking or standing. But feel no pain when seated. How exactly can that be in the mind?

[@plate.armour_0996]

humanity must disable pain + other unpleasant sensations forever!

[@saman.akhgar]

Amazing insight. Quite sure that "trust" is not something that the big pharma wants us to have. Thank you.

[@Attend2healthUk]

Fantastic talk and great message.

[@mld187]

Yes I believe you Julia but the belief that my pain is in my head doesn't take it away. How do I get rid of the pain?

[@RICKYDENNIS49]

Very sad that there is no answers to your comment. I wish that it was this simple. Did you get an answer to your question from any other source ? I understand the principle of the talk. But how ?

[@jbisntme]

I agree that pain is in the brain. BUT , it originates from somewhere in our body. This woman has no idea how damaging her talk is to someone who will now go out and do something that can possibly make their pain much worse.

[@OfEdenEast]

Thank you for watching my talk. Pain always originates from the brain, but it can be influenced by inputs from the body. Lorimer Moseley did an excellent Tedx Adelaide talk on this if you're interested in investigating further.

[@dantesinferno1258]

@@OfEdenEast so if a, say, POW is tortured and beaten, it’s all in the brain?

[@OfEdenEast]

@@dantesinferno1258 The resulting tissue damage is one of many inputs into the brain which contributes to the experience of pain. Pain is the resulting experience, not the signals coming from the body (which are known as nociception). In many traumatic circumstances, the body and the brain will sometimes dissociate so the person doesn't feel pain in that moment, but processes those experiences later. Check out Lorimer Moseley's TedX Adelaide talk - he has some great examples of situations like that. Also, Dr Month Lymon's book "The Painful Truth" or any of the recent BBC documentaries on pain, which feature some of my colleagues in pain management.

[@enaudeni]

Good talk and nicely presented. For the individual this could be vastly misinterpreted, what is lacking here is far too many asterisks. Yes I did enjoy it, but there was far too much of a generalization, too much was left. My colleague used to run a marathon here and there etc.. now suffers from sciatica he can now only dream of a fun run let alone run a marathon without been in agony. I am not sure how this would interpret to him?

[@ulib.5445]

True, too much generalization but we can embrace the idea and add it to the many other reasons of pain.

[@Lalalalalelo]

Ask your friend to see a chiropractor immediately

[@Lalalalalelo]

Of cause one with good reviews

[@johnnybgood1169]

I would strongly recommend your colleague research the work of the late John Sarno, M.D. As an avid recreational athlete with a history of pain issues, his books and videos have helped me tremendously. Cheers!

[@OfEdenEast]

Yes, it was really hard to include everything I wanted in 11minutes, and inevitably some of the details and nuance got left out. But I hope your friend would view this talk and a) not feel judged or like a failure b) understand that lots of things could be contributing to his pain which he may not have considered before c) seek further information from trusted sources. Best of luck to him! 🙂

[@celestpereira2653]

Super good! I love this lecture!

[@katherineraina7344]

I did not used to have chronic pain, and now i do and it is not because of anything a doctor said.

[@OfEdenEast]

Many things contribute to an experience of pain, not always just the language used by doctors. But I mention it specifically because I get fed up when people in my own profession use overly terrifying language.

[@gizanglyer5299]

@@OfEdenEast hi I have had chronic headaches for 3+ years and no doctor or medication has helped. What should I do to heal my brain with the info from ur Ted talk?

[@mem1701movies]

@@gizanglyer5299she really answered that

[@anut32]

Very good talk and amazing presentation

[@sudhasudha652]

Those who r respecting my pain,brain tarcher,I'll respect those people in my life,no relation friend is enough

[@kelviannaepperson3677]

But I have cerebral palsy and when I go to the doctor and hearing from others with this there is nothing physically wrong

[@BethHutch-pg5yi]

i understand a little bit I have a nerve giving me pain and don't know how to use my brain to lessen this pain

[@kelviannaepperson3677]

@BethHutch-pg5yi I also have a nerve condition they had to do tests to find the cause of the pain now I'm on a specific vitamin supplement. No matter how much you try your brain doesn't lessen the pain. I just endure and persevere.

[@mrsamuel7530]

Pain does not equal damage , Motion is lotion .Nice

[@rebeccahforbes6884]

This woman has absolutely no idea what it’s like to live with chronic 10/10 pain. You’re not going to “think” your way out of that!

[@rodrigopina5372]

I understood you, but what she meas was the physical pain is real, but others factors contribute with its persistence. You don't have to think your pain is from your head.

[@OfEdenEast]

I wasn't specifically saying people should think their way out of pain. More that a fuller understanding of how the pain experience works can help in managing it.

[@Missladybug62]

I hope she never get arthritis.

[@mem1701movies]

@@OfEdenEastpeople don’t know until they go through it. It’s like having a toothache that won’t go away.

[@OfEdenEast]

@mem1701movies I know something of that. I've been managing a migraine syndrome since my teens, and now I work with people who live with persistent pain. I did the TedX talk because I think misconceptions about pain add to the suffering, because people feel disbelieved and invalidated.

[@suzi-ml8ep]

what about pain caused by muscle imbalances/ overuse to bad alignment? like chronic muscle spasm and pain, numbness? Can chronic pain be caused by poor body compensations and altered biomechanics? Like overloading an area or using a joint in a way that it is not supposed to...? Does that mean pain should be ignored? Sometimes the pain seems like it is responding to something reasonable and that there is a root cause that needs to be addressed.... ? And sometimes when I don't feel that anxious the pain flares..? It also feels that the more physical activity I do, the worse the pain feels...? Is choosing the right kind of movement important?

[@OfEdenEast]

Thabk you for your questions. There's looooads to discuss in this comment but the (very very) short answer is that pain is very rarely just one or the other, ie it's not purely physical or purely psychological. The Brain and the body are always working together and they do in pain production too. For a fuller answer I can recommend Dr Deepak Ravindran's book "The Pain Free Mindset"

[@OfEdenEast]

And pain should never be ignored, just fully understood

[@Missladybug62]

Next time my fire alarm goes of or I smell smoke Ill pretend its all in my head.. 😮

[@johnathanabrams8434]

Myofascial trigger points are the most common symptom of persistent pain. The most common.

[@Volvo5200]

Agreed.... You're working on it

[@elizabethmcleod246]

I disagree. I think nerve damage is the most common injury and due to scans not being able to visualize the damage people with neuropathy are brushed off and deemed having a mental health issue. NOT!

[@carlosangulo11]

111 Wow!! Great video information!! Thank you so much 💪👏🫶👌🙏🏻🙏🏻Unconditional love to all ❤️ ♾️ 🌌

[@deemajerowska625]

TEDx i love you but how are you gonna post a talk about disability without captions 🥴

[@stanisawszwarc2816]

Really hoped for some data/research this talk was based on...

[@tammyrobinson1613]

Look up Dr Sarno

[@ViagensGringa]

also Lorimer Moseley

[@johnnybgood1169]

Also google "central sensitization syndrome"

[@OfEdenEast]

It was mostly based on the work of Lorimer Moseley and Peter O'Sullivan, both based in Australia. Lorimer has actually given his own Tedx Talk on a similar topic which is worth a watch.

[@OfEdenEast]

@@tammyrobinson1613 I didn't base this on Dr Sarno's work

[@inception252]

done watching this video? then watch LUCY played by scarlett johanson its mind blowing

[@saksurvival9272]

Lol a woman who clearly has never had chronic migraine or back pain. Love people like this it’s like me saying hey aids isn’t hard to live with 🙄

[@davisholman6518]

I am lying down here, after going for a walk with my grandsons. I have desiccated discs - all of them except 3 actually, scoliosis, & have lost 2 inches of height. But I have experienced my brain stopping my severe chronic pain several times - so I know emotions certainly do have something to do with back pain. My child had a twin pregnancy with many serious complications - I was by her side during the whole experience and can tell you - my brain knew I HAD TO BE 100% THERE FOR HER and lessened the pain signals significantly. Helping her care for her micro preemie little miracles was another time my chronic pain was lessened - either as an answer to prayer or a brain that knew I was needed by my precious girls so badly. There have been times it has gotten much worse when I did not want to face a problem that I had little control over too. I wish I had a step but step way to use the things she shared in her TED talk - that would work on us all with chronic pain. It is not something I would wish on any one...

[@OfEdenEast]

That's an interesting assumption you've made there. What makes you think I've never had either of those conditions? (As it happens, I have)

[@jmhereford]

I have chronic pain and have had debilitating migraines in the past and I am not interpreting her talk the same way. I found it empowering. My pain comes from tissue damage from multiple surgeries , nerve injury , complex regional pain syndrome and inflammatory and osteoarthritis. I’m in my 50 s and trying to figure out how to fix as well as live with this. Pain is very real but it is a signal interpreted by our brains. It really is. If your brain doesn’t work right you won’t feel any pain. Often time people with chronic pain see the painful body part as bad. She is saying that we can trick our brains and influence the interpretation. That doesn’t mean the pain will be gone necessarily but this perspective can empower us to work with our brains to decrease fear, feelings of helplessness and negative body thoughts. Bad days are still bad days. There is not one thing to help chronic pain so why not try everything? I hope you find comfort for your pain. This is what I believe people think “You’re pain is interesting but my pain hurts “. She is looking at it from the “interesting” perspective and I think talking to health professionals.

[@christiansowa2345]

did not work for me and the threshold of pain was not discussed, I feel that this speech is wrong

[@nitakhambalkar6560]

Can any one tell me how to stop migraine

[@RaphaWasHere]

Look for TMS by doctor Jhon sarno and read his books

[@DanielleCrookMusic]

Mine were caused by the high estrogen birth control pill. There is research on this. Also can be triggered by rapid blood pressure changes. Getting off the pill reduced the frequency and severity of mine by 90%. I can usually prevent them now just with myofascial trigger point release but if they take hold anyway imitrex can help.

[@amnamumtaz2301]

Well said

[@edwinaastley6421]

Spot on Julia. Then go get The MindBody Prescription by Dr Sarno and The Way Out by Alan Gordon and Alon Ziv which will take you to the cure

[@patientzeroxyz7058]

good thing laurent kept dancing after he hurt his knee.....you dont know what Im talking about

[@katherinegomez1433]

Wild.

[@pt4027]

❤❤

[@edwarddunlap7344]

have you noticed, DOCTORS ,won't touch this ! WHY ? thats what they do ,what their trained for , this is B S !

[@zes3813]

no such thing as trap or feel tx about it

[@timkruse9912]

This is so me lol

[@coolcreamykiwi]

Notice she throws "not always" in to protect her for good legal measure, but walks off so proud having caused untold harm to folks with serious injury. She mistakes applause and adulation for good science... they have been saying this same pain is in your brain b.s. for decades, captain obvious here is loved by big business giving ammunition to force people back to the same job thst likely gave them pain....