What is “Pain”?
When I had originally planned out this guide or roadmap to pregnancy, labour and postpartum I hadn’t included this topic but it had come up with five or six expecting families over about a two month period, I read a really amazing blog post by Madelaine Golec who is an incredibly pelvic floor physio out in the Mississauga area on this topic and I also spoke with some past birthing clients who were reflecting on their experience of ‘pain’ during birth and were having a tricky time making sense of it.
The article by Madelaine is linked down below and it is pretty technically and science-y if you’re into that, and I imagine quite a few of you right-brains are, but just to roughly summarize the idea of the post, and hopefully without butchering it, sorry Madelaine, it’s that there are no pain receptors in the body.
However, we do have temperature receptors, and we have chemical receptors, and we have mechanical receptors and these measure vibration, compression and stretch. These sensors help send signals to the brain to tell us that something might be potentially damaging. For example, the temperature receptors will let you know as you’re washing your hands if the water feels too hot. As the water temperature changes, your receptors send that information back to your brain, and if the water keeps getting hotter and as the signals are whizzing through from your body to your brain, eventually there might come a time when your brain lets your body know that it’s getting into a danger zone and perhaps your tissues might get burned. For some, this happens way earlier on with no risk of there being actual burns to the tissues and for others they might burn their hands before they register the heat of the water.
So this means that pain might be a subjective response to sensory information; meaning the same sensory information I receive could generate a different response in me then it would in you. And I’m sure you’ve seen this play out before, and the example that Madelaine gives in the article is a hot tub. Some people can lounge in hot tubs for hours and are so comfortable and love it, and others either get in and get out or simply find the entire experience to be uncomfortable or ‘ouch’y.
The current theory of pain is called the neuromatrix theory; pain is said to be a multi-faceted experience that is an output from the brain. We experience pain when our brain tells us that we’re being threatened, that something has happened or is about to happen, that something needs our attention.
What does this NOT mean? This does NOT mean that pain is all in your head. You’re feeling real physical sensations, and those sensations are being registered by your brain and body and they’re sending out signals about whether or not you should be concerned. But because we now believe that the neuromatrix theory speaks best about what pain is, it’s important to look at pain both physiologically, biologically as well as psychologically and culturally or socially.
Birth is a really great example. Physiologically we know that your uterine muscles are contracting so right away we know that there is massive sensory information being experienced and tons of signals being sent to the brain; there is no denying that childbirth is sensation-full. So when we talk about birth, we talk about getting a birther into a position that is physically comfortable, where they’re free to shift and move and physically respond to and soothe these physical sensations.
I preach it myself, the fear-pain-tension cycle, and I’ve also borne witness to and have listened to countless birthers relay that their headspace, their mood or focus, also greatly impacted the pain they were feeling. Sometimes if cervical dilation doesn’t happen as quickly as someone expected, they feel anxious or disappointed, which in turn makes it tougher to cope and very well might increase their experience of pain. Sometimes the opposite happens, labour feels painful and difficult and long and there’s a huge jump in cervical dilation so the birther is now feeling much more optimistic or excited or focused, which very well might decrease their experience of pain. Trust, confidence, positive-thinking, belief in one’s self are all ideal states to experience sensations from, just like physically it’s easier to manage sensations if someone is healthy, comfortable, well-fed, free from inflammation.
The last aspect of this neuromatrix theory is social factors, which can be anything from cultural norms to how someone is feeling in their closest relationships to stress levels and support levels. We’re social beings and we learn from and mirror others closest to us. In the article, Madelaine writes that we need support and acknowledgement and that it’s hard to go through, endure, heal and recover from pain when others around us don’t believe in, see or honour our experience. Lacking support or encouragement absolutely can feel lonely or isolating and those feelings very well might aggravate the pain experience and turn sensations into something unmanageable where with the right people and energy, it might have in fact been manageable.
So what does this mean for you? I’ve created a funsheet that’s linked down below that you can do twice; once for the birth experience and once for the postpartum. These questions will prompt you to begin to consider your relationship with the concept of pain, what comes from your past experience and what comes from others’ experiences, it encourages you to discuss these ideas with your partner or others closest to you because the way they perceive your pain can totally impact your experience. Take a peek, see how it feels in your mind and in your body and if it feels right, you can use it as a tool for birth prep. If you have any questions or if you’re looking for more information or even wanted to connect with Madelaine yourself, send me a message and I’m always happy to help any way I can.
When I had originally planned out this guide or roadmap to pregnancy, labour and postpartum I hadn’t included this topic but it had come up with five or six expecting families over about a two month period, I read a really amazing blog post by Madelaine Golec who is an incredibly pelvic floor physio out in the Mississauga area on this topic and I also spoke with some past birthing clients who were reflecting on their experience of ‘pain’ during birth and were having a tricky time making sense of it.
The article by Madelaine is linked down below and it is pretty technically and science-y if you’re into that, and I imagine quite a few of you right-brains are, but just to roughly summarize the idea of the post, and hopefully without butchering it, sorry Madelaine, it’s that there are no pain receptors in the body.
However, we do have temperature receptors, and we have chemical receptors, and we have mechanical receptors and these measure vibration, compression and stretch. These sensors help send signals to the brain to tell us that something might be potentially damaging. For example, the temperature receptors will let you know as you’re washing your hands if the water feels too hot. As the water temperature changes, your receptors send that information back to your brain, and if the water keeps getting hotter and as the signals are whizzing through from your body to your brain, eventually there might come a time when your brain lets your body know that it’s getting into a danger zone and perhaps your tissues might get burned. For some, this happens way earlier on with no risk of there being actual burns to the tissues and for others they might burn their hands before they register the heat of the water.
So this means that pain might be a subjective response to sensory information; meaning the same sensory information I receive could generate a different response in me then it would in you. And I’m sure you’ve seen this play out before, and the example that Madelaine gives in the article is a hot tub. Some people can lounge in hot tubs for hours and are so comfortable and love it, and others either get in and get out or simply find the entire experience to be uncomfortable or ‘ouch’y.
The current theory of pain is called the neuromatrix theory; pain is said to be a multi-faceted experience that is an output from the brain. We experience pain when our brain tells us that we’re being threatened, that something has happened or is about to happen, that something needs our attention.
What does this NOT mean? This does NOT mean that pain is all in your head. You’re feeling real physical sensations, and those sensations are being registered by your brain and body and they’re sending out signals about whether or not you should be concerned. But because we now believe that the neuromatrix theory speaks best about what pain is, it’s important to look at pain both physiologically, biologically as well as psychologically and culturally or socially.
Birth is a really great example. Physiologically we know that your uterine muscles are contracting so right away we know that there is massive sensory information being experienced and tons of signals being sent to the brain; there is no denying that childbirth is sensation-full. So when we talk about birth, we talk about getting a birther into a position that is physically comfortable, where they’re free to shift and move and physically respond to and soothe these physical sensations.
I preach it myself, the fear-pain-tension cycle, and I’ve also borne witness to and have listened to countless birthers relay that their headspace, their mood or focus, also greatly impacted the pain they were feeling. Sometimes if cervical dilation doesn’t happen as quickly as someone expected, they feel anxious or disappointed, which in turn makes it tougher to cope and very well might increase their experience of pain. Sometimes the opposite happens, labour feels painful and difficult and long and there’s a huge jump in cervical dilation so the birther is now feeling much more optimistic or excited or focused, which very well might decrease their experience of pain. Trust, confidence, positive-thinking, belief in one’s self are all ideal states to experience sensations from, just like physically it’s easier to manage sensations if someone is healthy, comfortable, well-fed, free from inflammation.
The last aspect of this neuromatrix theory is social factors, which can be anything from cultural norms to how someone is feeling in their closest relationships to stress levels and support levels. We’re social beings and we learn from and mirror others closest to us. In the article, Madelaine writes that we need support and acknowledgement and that it’s hard to go through, endure, heal and recover from pain when others around us don’t believe in, see or honour our experience. Lacking support or encouragement absolutely can feel lonely or isolating and those feelings very well might aggravate the pain experience and turn sensations into something unmanageable where with the right people and energy, it might have in fact been manageable.
So what does this mean for you? I’ve created a funsheet that’s linked down below that you can do twice; once for the birth experience and once for the postpartum. These questions will prompt you to begin to consider your relationship with the concept of pain, what comes from your past experience and what comes from others’ experiences, it encourages you to discuss these ideas with your partner or others closest to you because the way they perceive your pain can totally impact your experience. Take a peek, see how it feels in your mind and in your body and if it feels right, you can use it as a tool for birth prep. If you have any questions or if you’re looking for more information or even wanted to connect with Madelaine yourself, send me a message and I’m always happy to help any way I can.