Physiological pain and Functional pain are two major types of pain defined recently by a resident doc of mine. It is a great way to figure out the cause of pain rather quickly. The definitions and possible treatments below are my thoughts on them. Do not treat yourself without seeking the advice of a physician. Simply take some notes from this post and bring it to your doc or tell them what you 'found on the internet'. They love that. Uh huh.

Enjoy the information - it took some time writing this and it is jam packed with information so you may have to read and re-read to make tails of some areas.

Physiological Pain

• No wound or trauma occured
• After long hours of being semi-still - as sleeping - pain gets worse
• Increased movement helps the pain go away
• Occurs in many ill health states - like arthritis, maldigestion, diabetes, malnutrition, dehydration, migraines, headaches
• Inflammation in the body is what is causing the pain.
• Reduce the body's inflammation and likely the pain will go away.
• Taking pain killers such as aspirin, motrin, PainB Gone, whathaveyou may help but does not address the cause of the pain - so it is, in my mind, not ideal.

• exercise
• drink water
• improve digestive function
• take a supplement to reduce systemic body inflammation.
• sleep your 8 hrs so growth hormone gets released and repairs tissues
• limit inflammatory foods such as sugar and known food allergens - common ones are dairy, wheat, egg, peanut butter
• discuss with your physician and discover what the causative factors may be.

• This is more anatomically an issue within joints, tendons and ligaments.
• Tends to feel better with rest, relaxation
• Gets worse with motion in the problem area
• Occurs with trauma or injury to the area
• Found after intense exercise, falls, car accidents or any incident which the body takes a blow.
• Taking pain killers such as ibuprofen, aspirin and tylenol may seem to help short term but longtem not a great idea.
• Treat the underlying anatomical and functional insufficiency and pain will ease.

• Limit aggravating factors.
• If you hurt your shoulder, don't help your friend move, be a baseball pitcher that weekend or lift objects without thinking.
• Increase nutrients to the area via hydrotherapy.
• This can be done using hot/cold contrast water. Hot water brings in the nutrients from the blood and then a burst of cold pushes all the inflammation and metabolites out of the area. Heat the area with water as hot as you stand for 1 minute and then ice cold water for 10 seconds. Repeat this 3 times and end with cold. Very important that one ends with cold as this draws blood back into the area after a few seconds of being frozen. The body intends to warm the area that is cold - so if ending with cold, the blood will come rushing back in providing intense warmth to the point of sweating. Ask your doctor if you can do this - it may aggravate arthritis, autoimmune disease, asthma and other conditions. Also cannot do contrast therapy if the injury or trauma has been less than 3 days duration.
• [many docs state that a person should do 3 minutes hot and 30 seconds cold - yes that is ideal but more ideal is getting the person to do it. time is limited this day in age so if you are one of many limited with time, at least do 1 minute/10 seconds 3x. If you have more time, excellent, do 3 min hot, 30 sec cold 3x.]
• Take joint supplement with glucosamine sulfate - 500mg three times a day for 8 weeks minimum
  • This is what the studies have shown effective. Glucosamine HCl is garbage. Glucosamine sulfate is what has been used is human studies and proven effective - not the HCl or other types of glucosamine. Spend your money wisely.
• Stretch, swim and seek physical therapy and the advice of a sports medicine doctor.
• An excellent book is Dr David Musnicks, Conditioning for Outdoor Fitness. Dr Musnick is my sports medicine professor and he flat out is impressive.
• Many injuries are due to overtight muscles - such as shoulder rotator cuff injuries due to a tight supraspinatus muscle pulling itself from the rotator cuff. Relax, stretch and ultrasound the supraspinatus muscle and likely your injury will improve much faster.

• A podiatrist told me a vast majority of his patients with foot and ankle problems have a tight achilles tendon. Stretch it. Don't wear high heels.

Think about the pain next time instead of blindly popping a pain killer.

Address it.

Your body is speaking to you.

Listen.

Disclaimer: This information is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe. It is for educational use only. Seek the advice of a licensed physician.

copyright 2006, HealthE Goods, Inc

Ben Lynch

Graduate of University of Washington, 1997. BS Cell and Molecular Biology. Obtaining doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine at Bastyr University. Graduate 2007. Married with 2 boys with a feline friend. Live in Seattle, WA. Born in Portland, OR. Planning to specialize in Balneotherapy [spa medicine]. Hobbies include backpacking, camping, traveling abroad, sailing, tennis, rowing, soccer, mountain climbing.

Passionate about naturopathic medicine and always knee deep in research finding what works and what doesn't. Developing a new website called Seeking Health which will have loads of articles, research, natural health products and other useful resources.