Impactful Pain Strategies

Today hosts Tiffany and Rachel hone in on a topic of interest for both yoga students and teachers: strategies to address persistent pain. While persistent pain is dismayingly common, the journey to recovery is a personal one, requiring an individual understanding of our physical state, along with our feelings and beliefs.  In this episode, we discuss the effect of language on pain-related fear and how pain education can have a surprising impact on pain perception. We also explore sneaky yet effective ways to work with persistent pain as a yoga teacher, and how to help students in pain regain feelings of confidence and control. Listen in to learn the importance of long-term partnership in pain management and how gradual graded exposure has the potential to change our perception of pain completely. Show Notes:  The impact of pain education in recovery [3:48] Pain as a warning signal to initiate conversation [5:45] Perceived vulnerability and pain: the Fit for Purpose and Predictive Coding models [8:45] Pain is complex and pain-related fear is natural [12:33]  Potential "bleed over" of persistent pain: Double Crush Syndrome [14:51] Emotions and beliefs influence pain perception [17:13] Effects of language on pain-related fear; the weight of words from medical professionals [23:09] A partnership approach for working with students in pain [31:16] Start by creating a feeling of safety [35:50] Gradual graded exposure as pain re-education [38:16] Myofascial release as a tool for pain re-education [45:29] Changing our relationship to pain [48:23] Persistent pain can't always be completely eradicated [50:26] Considering the potential for flareups [54:55] Communicating through demeanor [59:31] Key takeaways [1:00:28] The power of putting students in control [1:02:50] Links Mentioned:  Watch this episode on YouTube Nervous System & Restorative Yoga Teacher Training Ceneiro et al.: From Fear to Safety: A Roadmap to Recovery From Musculoskeletal Pain Leake et al.: Key Learning Statements for Persistent Pain Education: An Iterative Analysis of Consumer, Clinician and Researcher Perspectives and Development of Public Messaging Explain Pain Book Previous Yoga Medicine Podcast Episodes: Episode 2: The Placebo Effect Part 1 Episode 15: Shifting Persistent Pain with Marnie Hartman Episode 19: Fascia & Pain Episode 24: Yoga & Injury Part 2 You can learn more about this episode, and see the full show notes at YogaMedicine.com/podcast-64. And you can find out more about insider tips, online classes, or information on our teacher trainings at YogaMedicine.com. To support our work, please leave us a 5-star review with your feedback on iTunes/Apple Podcasts.