When we think of pain, we generally think of muscle imbalances, structural problems, injury and movement problems, but there’s an entirely different source of pain that afflicts many people. But before we get to that, let me explain pain…
When the body determines tissue damage is occurring, it needs to inform the brain that this is happening. To do this our sensory system sends signals called nociception to our brain. This is interpreted as tissue damage and is then sent to our emotional centres for processing.
Based on the severity of the damage, how emotional we are at the time and the level of importance, the brain makes us consciously aware of this damage as pain.
So, pain is really nothing more than our emotional interpretation of nociception from an area of the body. As such, anything that changes the brain’s interpretation of nociception can also alter our accurate assessment of tissue damage, or pain. So what are some of the modifiers of this area of the brain…?
Various hormones, especially estrogen can play a big role in this. This is why many women comment that you never get waxed when you have your period because it hurts so much more! But what about food…
There are many different foods that can alter our immune function, flight or fight responses and potentially our ability to accurately sense pain. Whilst everyone experiences these things differently based on many different factors, there are many foods which we often hear people say seem to aggravate their condition.
At the top of the list is carbohydrate rich foods. These includes things such as grains, refined sugar and sometimes even fruit. This is simply because carbohydrate rich foods stimulate insulin promoting inflammation. In some circumstances these can also increase leukotrienes which can further increase the sensitivity to pain.
Gluten and nightshades vegetables are another we often see. This potentially might be due to the neuroexcitatory effect of these foods.
In particular, nightshades, which include potato, tomato, capsicum, chilli and egg plant, contain glykoalkaloids which either drive the sympathetic or inhibit the parasympathetic systems leading to increased brainstem stimulation and emotional drive.
Whilst no two people are ever the same, a well conducted assessment can often provide insight as to which foods might be part of your problem and making your life worse.
