You may not realize how much of the pain you experience with your spinal cord injury (SCI) day to day you could have complete control over. The mental component of pain is something that researchers have been analyzing for many years. It has been found through their extensive studies that “our perception of an injury can have a stronger influence on how much pain we experience than the actual tissue damage that has occurred.”
It is not easy to accept that we could be making things harder for ourselves when we clearly want so badly for our condition to get better. Comfort yourself with the fact that this is human nature, something that people have learned to do and aren't aware that they can change. The key to making the appropriate mental adjustments, so that you are no longer a victim to your uncontrollable pain, is learning how to practice mindful meditation.
Meditation allows those struggling with a physical disability to ignore unnecessary distractions and take control of their nervous system in a way that many wouldn’t believe possible. With this newfound control, a person will suffer much less and recover quicker as a result. In order to begin this practice, one has to let go of their fear and anger and open their mind to allow themselves to accept their circumstance.
The Brain & Pain
According to Lorimer Moseley, a professor of neuroscience who studies pain, understanding exactly how pain as a system works can help people to experience less of it. The nervous system is made up of your brain, neurons, and your spinal cord. Pain neurons exist as a form of protection so you don’t get too close to something that is hot or pick up something that is too heavy.
The brain decides how intense of a message to send to you through pain based on the level of danger it detects. Though the brain doesn't determine all of this, it has a very powerful influence. Therefore, if you are perceiving your injury in a certain way, your body will respond to this and your recovery time will be longer.
Achieving Mindfulness
Just as the brain has learned to communicate pain signals to you based on the level of danger, it can also be trained so that it doesn’t send more signals than are necessary. Being able to control this is being able to achieve mindfulness. This can ultimately help with achieving recovery by:
- changing your perception of your circumstance and allowing you to see the truth of the situation rather than being led by your emotions. You will be able to see and accept the reality of your injury and notice how much of your pain is coming from your fear. With this awareness you can use your mind to focus on what is important rather than being distracted by your worries.
- helping your nervous system to calm which will stop all of the “fight or flight” reactions you impose on your body when communicating that something is wrong.
The Practice
Here are the steps you can take when you feel overwhelmed and notice yourself starting to panic.
First: Focus on your breathe. Inhale through your nose and out of your mouth. Changing the way you breathe communicates to the nervous system that it can relax the muscles, slow down the heart rate, stop producing pain hormones, and produce relaxation hormones instead.
Next: Start to observe where the most intense pain is coming from. Examine this pain neutrally, completely from a studious perspective.
Last: Change your label for this sensation from pain, which has a negative and emotional connotation, to something neutral. For example, you can label it something like ‘tingling’ or ‘movement’ in the body. This eventually helps the brain to achieve complete calm.
With this technique you can take control of your brain, body, and nervous system. Try to meditate at least 12 minutes a day and gradually work your way up to 20. This is not helping you to ignore the pain, but to draw your attention to it and allow your experience of it to be calmed with a positive intention.
You can listen to what your body needs and communicate to it that the pain is unnecessary. As you continue to recover, remember what it felt like when there was never any pain in your spine or point of injury. Remember that pain is not your normal state and that you can control whether you are going to be a victim to it or decide to take the reigns.
