Back Pain Conditioning

Back pain conditioning is a common process suffered by patients with physical and psychological back pain. Conditioning is a term that describes the expectation of an event or result. When it comes to back ache, the most commonly expected event is PAIN.

Pavlov and Back Pain Conditioning

Pavlov is famous for his experiments showing how a specific response can be created from a related event. Just like Pavlov�s dogs were made to salivate at the mere sound of a bell, back pain patients can be made to experience symptoms from ordinary events. Regardless of the cause of back pain experienced by a patient, psychological conditioning is ALWAYS a crucial part of the symptomatic expression.

Patients create a partially factual and partially circumstantial clinical picture of their back pain. This is a completely normal and expected reaction to the desire to avoid pain. A patient will determine all the things that actually or perceptually help and harm their painful condition. This creates a set of psychological rules and guidelines by which the patient will attempt to live. All of this is done to stop a recurrence of the dreaded pain.

Back Pain Conditioning Rules

Patients with long term chronic back pain often have long lists of prohibited behaviors. I have heard of so many ranging from the plausible to the absurd. When I suffered with my pain, I had many of these guidelines as well:

* I could only sleep on my side.
* Sitting was bad for my back.
* I had to keep exercising, but not overdo it.
* Chiropractic adjustments were needed to keep me functional.

These are just some of my conditioned responses to pain. All patients have their own individual lists of preferred and prohibited behaviors and some of them are truly comical. Some of my favorites reported to me from ACTUAL PATIENTS are:

* �My back hurts more watching certain TV channels than others.�
* �My back hurts at exactly 11:34 PM every night.�
* "My back hurts when shopping, but I can walk for hours outside.�
* "My back pain goes away when I wear purple.�

These are ALL REAL beliefs reported to me during patient interviews�

Back Pain Conditioning Truths

The truth of conditioned responses is that the mind likes to create rules for all things. The body experiences pain during a particular event or action and instantly creates an assumption that the pain is somehow caused by said event/action. Sometimes this makes perfect sense, but often, the rule is illogical and downright humorous. Conditioned responses train ourselves to treat the pain as if it was a separate entity that must be coddled and cared for like a new born baby. It is amazing to me how some patients become completely focused upon their self made rules of pain. However, the more you learn about psychosomatic pain syndromes, the more you will discover that this preoccupation with the physical body is the exact goal sought by the subconscious mind to protect the consciousness from repressed emotional issues.

Recommendation on Back Pain Conditioning

If you are one of the many patients who have a long DO and DON�T list when it comes to back pain, you need HELP. There is a very good chance that your pain is 100% psychogenic. The remainder usually suffer from former physically caused back pain that has been perpetuated and aggrandized by some psychological process. Knowledge therapy is the cure you need to end your conditioning and start a new life in complete control of everything you do. It is time to seize back the reins of your life and tell back pain to take a hike�

Back Pain Conditioning to Lower Back Pain Home 2/2/07 Revised 7/18/08