Читать книгу Why It Hurts - Dr. Aneesh Singla - Страница 19

In 2004, I was completing my pain fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. The Red Sox hadn’t won the World Series since 1918. Fans believed that Babe Ruth, nicknamed “The Great Bambino,” had cursed their team when he was traded to the Yankees. As a result, the Sox would never win the World Series. That October, they defied the curse of the Bambino.

While the city was still buzzing with excitement from the win, I was walking along the Charles River and saw that someone had vandalized a sign on Storrow Drive. The sign had said “Reverse Curve” but someone had changed it to say “Reverse the Curse.” This got me thinking. In some ways, we have been conditioned to view pain as a curse, as something to avoid. If we find ourselves cursed with pain, there is a systematic process to try to reverse it.

Pain is both a positive and a negative. Pain starts with a positive (P), specifically the absence of pain. Then, through an accident (A) or injury (I), it ends up being a negative (N). This negative state has two dimensions, the injury and the unpleasantness of the pain.

Once you have P.A.I.N.2, you can literally turn the word around to use it as a model to grow from the painful experience and build resilience. By doing so, you turn a negative into a positive:

N. Define the negative experience by identifying the source of the pain.

I. Intervene by addressing the source of the pain.

A. Assess the response.

P. Attain a positive result.

You may not know it, but you already use this model on a daily basis. For example, when you touch a hot object, you instantly withdraw your hand because of the pain. The feeling of an ankle sprain is your body’s way of telling you not to run until the pain has decreased, signifying that the injury has healed. This phenomenon is a form of adjustment to the painful experience so you can protect yourself from re-injury.

Let’s walk through the steps of reversing the pain of an ankle sprain:

N: The negative is the painful sprained ankle. To fully understand the negative starting point, you may need to visit a doctor for a complete diagnosis.

I: Intervene and ice the ankle to decrease swelling and inflammation. Consider rest, ice, compression, elevation, and anti-inflammatories. Again, your doctor can help you understand the best course of intervention.

A: Assess the response of your intervention. Are you improving? If so, continue conservative treatment. If not, see a sports medicine or orthopedic physician for additional options.

P: The positive result. After your intervention, your ankle is healed and you are back to your normal activities without limitations. From this positive state, you might also have learned more about your body’s limitations, ways to prevent future sprains, and exercises to strengthen your ankle or adjust your stride.

There are no easy answers or quick fixes, but if you try to apply this “reverse the pain” model the next time you struggle with pain, it will help you become more systematic and effective about processing, recovering from, and growing from that painful experience.