Explaining referred pain

Referred pain - pain that originates from an area proximal to the site of symptoms.

Treating pain at the site of symptoms may provide relief in the present, but does not address the true pain-generator.

For example, if you’ve ever felt pain to the side of your neck into your shoulder; you reach to rub it out, and it feels better temporarily until you feel a need one hour later to massage the area again. A great analogy for this method of ineffective pain management is a factory and its waste. Factories often generate waste that can be found away from the plant, whether in the ocean or landfill. Then we try and clean up the oceans and landfills. Similarly, we can assimilate the factory to the spine and the waste from the factory to the symptoms we feel in the shoulder.

Fortunately for us, we can work with our factory (spine) to find ways we can eliminate waste (symptoms) downstream. Just like factories, sometimes it is necessary to bring in experts to fix a problem, and sometimes factories can find a different way to function that is more efficient. The same can be done with the body, there may be times you need a chiropractor, physical therapist, trainer or medical doctor fix an issue; but commonly we can change our own function by way of movement and experience a positive change in the symptoms we feel.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss the pain you’re experiencing feel free to contact the office by phone, email or schedule an appointment online below.