What’s the difference between having pain and suffering from pain

Newsflash .. lots of us have pain ! Lower back pain alone contributes to more missed days of work annually than all the coughs and colds put together.

Unsurprisingly with all this pain knocking around there are a broad range of intensities with which we experience pain. Low levels of pain tend to have the effect of causing mild intermittent annoyance but the further up the pain scale we go the more intense the frustration, uncertainty and concern we feel.

The real suffering that comes with most pain conditions arises when we hit the point where we find our freedom to perform basic functions like comfortably sleeping, sitting, walking and running starts becoming limited.

When we find ourselves actively fed up with our pain and not willing to put up with it any more that’s usually the point where we start taking action towards getting rid of it and often when answers start to come. Realistically this shows that the pain and the unhappiness that goes with it actually serve as a call to action.

The fascinating thing is that we all have our own threshold for what we are willing to put up with. Some of us will put up with huge amounts of pain before we get pissed off enough to do something about it and others take action even at the first sign of trouble… and everything in between.

Different conditions also have their own rates at which they motivate people. I work with many sufferers of plantar fasciitis and heel pain. Both plantar fasciitis and heel pain are very motivating because they limit basic walking and living a normal life. Most of the people who I work with who have plantar fasciitis in particular have had enough.. this ,makes them easy to work with.

If you feel that you are suffering with pain we may be able to help. We work with countless people who prior to calling us were very confused scared and frustrated. In our experience the vast majority of pains are very treatable. Successfully treating pains is about having the right tools for the job and taking a flexible open mined approach. We are all different after all.