Mind over matter

Mind over matter. An interesting phrase that I’ve heard throughout my life. Even though I understood the phrase’s meaning, I never fully understood the use of “matter”. You may be well versed in the understanding that everything physical in the world is made up of matter. This clicked two times in my life; first, in grade school science, understanding that life is made up of atoms and particles which form matter. The second, during a “No Brain, No Pain” talk with McMaster neurofunctional acupuncture, that focussed on

pain and sensation pathways through the body.

The brain is so powerful that it can overcome sensations from the world around us as well as re-patternize the pain and sensations in our own bodies. If someone tells you that a simple birthday party balloon hit them in the head and caused pain, the sight of a balloon bouncing towards us may raise the alarms in the brain anticipating the painless little balloon to wreak havoc. In a more likely example, when a sprain or fracture occurs in the body, the brain will become hypersensitive to that area, even when the tissue is healed. An ankle, wrist, low back, scar, what-have-you may become persistently heightened to all touch because the brain has increased its level of awareness.

I once heard that chronic or persistent pain can be explained by the use of comparing the body to a car alarm. If someone smashes the back right window of a car, that car alarm will sound signifying that something has gone wrong with the system. Even when the alarm is subdued and the window gets replaced, a knock on the front driver’s side window may cause that alarm to sound. In the same way, our bodies have used that mind over matter inversely to increase our nociceptive (pain) sensitivity across the whole system.

We have to retrain the body to let it know what sensations are non-painful. Introducing light touch, massage, vibration, deeper pressures, can all have an influence on the brain’s pathways that have been built over time.