Could that 'pain' be a misunderstanding!? The true nature of pain is a 'brain alarm': 3 perspectives to spot nerve misconceptions
Hello everyone, it's Yoshi, the Flipper President!
Today is Saturday, so for 'Study Saturday,' I'm going to talk about sports science. And today, I'll be using my own shin, which is currently hurting, as a teaching tool (laughs).
Actually, yesterday, I had five minutes after the athletes finished their practice, so I borrowed some fins from an athlete and got into the pool.
I intended to swim a little.
But I couldn't even manage a single kick...
The front of my shin (tibialis anterior) hurt so much that the weight of the fins pulling on my ankle caused intense pain. I couldn't put any power into it even if I tried... In the end, I got out of the pool without kicking even once. How sad...
The reason is that last week, during Muay Thai practice, I did some sparring with kicks for the first time in a while and hurt my left shin. Well, this is a spot that's easy to get kicked when checking (defending) kicks, so it can't be helped.
Now, I have a question for you.
Don't you think that 'It hurts!' is a sign that your body is broken?
'Pain = something is damaged or injured'
'Where it hurts is proof of how much damage has been taken'
'If it hurts, don't use it'
It's normal to think that way, right? I always thought so too.
But as you learn sports science, you realize that pain can sometimes be caused by a 'misunderstanding'.
Pain as a misunderstanding... strange, isn't it? Oh, and this is definitely not about willpower! (laughs)
Today's talk isn't some boring, obvious lesson like 'be careful if you get hurt' or 'take proper care so you don't get hurt.'
It's a surprising story about 'how pain is actually such a mysterious mechanism!' If you read to the end, you'll gain the mindset to stop being unnecessarily afraid of pain. Let's go!
Pain is not a 'damage meter,' but an 'alarm' sounded by the brain
I'll start with the conclusion.
Pain is not necessarily a 'meter' that directly reflects the amount of physical damage. It is an 'alarm' that the brain sounds when it judges that something 'might be dangerous.'It is an 'alarm' that the brain sounds when it judges that something 'might be dangerous.'.
Pain is a warning issued by the brain to protect the body. It is not a device that accurately measures the extent of an injury.
'Wait, does that mean there are times when it hurts but nothing is actually broken?'
That's right. Let me explain in order.
Imagine this.
A fire alarm in your home, neighborhood, school, or workplace.
It goes off when there's a fire, right?
But have you ever heard of cases, perhaps in the news or in your neighborhood, where it went off due to a false alarm, like just from a little smoke while cooking?
Conversely, as is often warned, it might not go off even if there's a quiet short circuit deep inside an outlet until there's a massive amount of smoke. By the time you notice, it's a huge fire, and every channel you turn on is reporting on that massive blaze.
Actually, pain is exactly the same as this.
The fire alarm (the brain) isn't measuring the 'size of the fire.' It's ringing because it has sensed a sign that says 'This is dangerous.' That's why it can ring loudly even if the damage is small, and it might not ring at all even if there is damage.
In the world of pain neuroscience, there is a famous story.
For those with a vivid imagination, I'd like you to read this with your eyes half-closed, but...
A construction worker was rushed in with excruciating pain after stepping on a nail at a work site. However, when they took off his boot, the nail had passed through the 'gap' between his toes and hadn't even pierced a single layer of skin. Even so, the person was suffering from genuine, intense pain.
Conversely, there are athletes who continue to move during a match without realizing they have a fracture because they are so excited.
In the 2019 Naoya Inoue vs. Nonito Donaire fight, Naoya Inoue, who received a left hook from Donaire in the second round, said in a post-match interview that from that round until the end of the 12th round, he was fighting while seeing Donaire as two people.
And later, it was announced that it was an orbital floor fracture and a nasal bone fracture... This is exactly what adrenaline is.
The intensity of pain and the extent of the injury do not perfectly align. This is the most surprising point of the day.
Why does pain deviate from the 'extent of the injury'?
'So, is pain just in my head?'
You might think so. But that's not the case. The pain is 100% real.
However, pain is not a 'live feed from the wound,' but a signal that the brain 'creates' using various pieces of information as ingredients.
The ingredients include things like these.
The actual degree of injury in that area
Memories of past injuries in the same spot
Anxiety about 'what if I hurt it again'
Fatigue, lack of sleep, or feeling down
The brain adds all of these together to decide 'how loud the alarm should be right now'.
That is why, even with the same level of injury, pain feels stronger on days when you are anxious, and pain subsides when you are absorbed in something, even if the injury is the same.
This is exactly what happened to my own shin.
Right after I injured it in Muay Thai, I was able to continue sparring normally, there was no intense pain unless I touched it, I could walk, and it didn't bother me in daily life. So, I just went about my day without worrying too much, thinking it was nothing serious.
However, three days ago, I just stood up to go to the bathroom at home, and it suddenly started hurting. From that point on, it turned into a muscle-strain-like pain that hadn't been there before. Even though I hadn't done anything.
My shin couldn't have been newly damaged just by standing up from a chair, right? But the moment the brain's 'alarm setting' switched, the way the pain manifested changed completely. It was a classic example of pain being disconnected from the amount of physical damage.
Why does pain get stronger due to a 'misunderstanding'?
There is one more mechanism that will change your perspective once you know it.
When you experience pain repeatedly, the brain and nerves keep increasing the 'sensitivity of the alarm'.
Technically, this is called 'sensitization'. Sensitization is a state where nerves become hypersensitive, causing even minor stimuli to be felt as intense pain.
Imagine turning the dial on a fire alarm to maximum sensitivity. It will keep blaring at full volume from just a tiny bit of smoke.
'Isn't that just overthinking it?'
You might think so. But this isn't a matter of willpower, mentality, or feelings; it is a phenomenon that occurs because the nerves themselves physically change. In other words, pain can sometimes intensify like a 'false alarm'.
I have experienced this firsthand.
Even I, who had no real injuries until high school, started getting hurt everywhere after I increased my training and started fin swimming. If I took care of my lower back, my ankles would hurt; if I healed my ankles, my shoulders would start acting up... it was like a game of Whac-A-Mole.
That is when I developed the habit of observing my body in detail. This itself was very good. Thanks to that, I can now deal with discomfort before it grows into 'pain'.
However, there were side effects.
I became too sensitive, and even started picking up on pain too acutely. I would rush to the osteopathic clinic for even the slightest discomfort, to the point where the doctor would ask, 'Where is it this time?', and I was constantly searching for places that hurt (laughs).
Is this pain truly bad, is it just pain felt because the nerves have become hypersensitive, or is it pain stemming from my mental state? It was really troublesome until I could learn to distinguish between these.
Pain can be 'amplified' and can even sound off due to a 'misunderstanding.' If you don't know this, you'll end up being startled all day long by an alarm that won't stop ringing.
Pain is not an 'enemy' but 'information.' Decoding it into 3 types
Reading this far, you might think the following.
'So, should I just ignore the pain?'
No, it's the opposite.
Instead of ignoring it, you need to "decode" it.
Once you understand that pain is not 'the damage itself' but 'information from the brain,' the idea becomes that you just need to read what kind of information it is. I categorize pain based on how you should move.
Imagine this. It's like a car's warning light.
① Pain that you must not move with
Like an engine warning light. It's a sign that something is truly broken, so if you keep driving, it will get worse. This is pain where resting is the correct answer.
When I was a graduate student, on my way back from a conference in Fukuoka, my car was in this exact state, but because I drove it 500km back to where I lived in Kagoshima, a mysterious liquid started leaking from the car like blood, and it became irreparable... (laughs)
② Pain to move with caution
Like a low fuel light. It's not broken, but if you push it too hard, it will flare up again. This is pain where you should choose your range of motion and move while protecting it.
③ Pain that you must move with
It's like driving with the parking brake on. It hurts because it's stiff and lacks range of motion, so you actually need to release that brake and move to heal it. This is the type that gets worse the more you rest.
Even if it's the same 'pain,' the correct answer can be the exact opposite. That's why it's important not to take pain at face value and decide that 'pain = rest at all costs.'
Of course, 'don't push yourself if it hurts' is the fundamental premise. On top of that, take a step back and look at it, asking, 'Which type of pain is this?' Just by doing that, pain changes from a scary signal into 'readable information.'
By the way, my shin is currently leaning toward ①. So I'm refraining from swimming, and in my daily life, I'm being careful about my movement and posture. Since it's muscle pain, it will return to normal if I rest for about a week. It's frustrating, but the right thing to do is not to force kicks here.
Today, I also limited my Muay Thai practice to just boxing without kicks.
Reading 'what kind of information' the athlete's pain is, too
When I listen to the 'pain' of athletes or students, I'm not just looking at the pain itself.
I read which of (1), (2), or (3) that pain falls into, and even how much your mental state is mixed in.
For example, there are cases where I think, 'They are using pain as an excuse to unconsciously avoid doing something they don't want to do' (laughs).
Conversely, there are also cases where I think, 'This child is enduring too much pain.'
I want to stop children who endure too much.
But the person themselves doesn't want to stop practicing.
In those times, what I think is, 'Then, what can we do without using the painful area?' While protecting the painful spot, we train the areas that can be trained.
If you can correctly read the information that is pain, you can distinguish between 'resting' and 'giving up.' I believe this is one of my jobs as a coach.
Summary: You don't have to be afraid of pain
Since this has become long, here are the 3 points for today.
Pain is not a meter for the amount of damage, but an alarm the brain sounds saying 'this might be dangerous.' Therefore, the intensity of pain and the severity of an injury do not always match.
Nerves become hypersensitive when they hurt repeatedly, causing even small stimuli to feel very painful (sensitization). Pain can sometimes be amplified like a 'misunderstanding.'
Therefore, do not take pain at face value; decipher whether it means 'you must not move,' 'move with caution,' or 'you must move.' With the premise of 'don't push yourself if it hurts,' you just need to identify its true nature.
If you think of pain as an 'enemy,' it becomes a signal that is just scary.
But if you can reframe it as, 'This is an alarm the brain is sounding to protect me, and sometimes it goes off too much,' then pain changes into a 'subject to be deciphered.'
Once that happens, you will no longer be unnecessarily afraid or recklessly enduring it. You can surely make your pain your ally, too.
Well, once the alarm in my shin stops ringing, I want to get back to kicking fins soon (laughs).
With that said, thank you for reading this far this time as well.
If you thought this content was good or learned something, I would be happy if you supported me with a 'Like❤️', 'Follow✅', 'Share♻️', or 'Tip💙'...!
Also, if you are curious about 'which type is my pain?' or have questions like 'what about this kind of pain?', please enter them in the 'comment section' and let me know!
See you next time!
Bye for now~
Fin Swimming Specialist
Fins President Yoshihide Sekino
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