Pain relief is a large part of most health professionals’ work. In my profession as a healthcare provider, the treatment of pain is one of my areas of special interest. Let me tell you a little bit about pain and how I approach it.

There are two general kinds of pain:

1. Pain coming from some damaged part of the body («nociceptive pain»).
2. Pain generated by the nervous system without any damage to the body («neuropathic pain»).

Whoa! Wait! How can there be pain without damage? Well, here are a couple of ways. First example: There may have been damage which has now healed, but the nervous system has not adjusted back to normal. Second example: The nervous system may have become sensitised by numerous previous physical or emotional traumas, so that it produces pain response to minor physical stimuli. Note here that all pain is produced in the brain, even though it is felt in the foot, or stomach or head. The difference is that in the first case it is related to actual current damage and in the second case it is not.

The first kind of pain (nociceptive pain) can be further broken down into pain coming from the outer body like skin, muscles and joints («somatic pain») and pain coming from the inner body organs («visceral pain»). The latter can be confusing because it is often first experienced in the muscles of the outer body. The osteopath is uniquely prepared to distinguish between these kinds of pain, a distinction which is critical in their treatment.

Above I said that the treatment of pain was one of my areas of special interest. That is not exact. It would be more accurate to say that the treatment of the person in pain is my area of expertise. The difference is that as a holistic practitioner I treat people, not symptoms or disorders. By treating the person, the symptom goes away or at least gets better, indicating an improvement in any underlying disorder.

The disciplines that I practise, osteopathy and acupuncture, are excellent at treating people suffering with pain. In my experience osteopathy is the treatment of choice for most kinds of common pain complaints, while acupuncture is sometimes preferable for certain kinds of neuropathic pain and some kinds of inflammatory arthritis. In the latter case I would also make use of my knowledge of herbal medicine.

My formal studies have well equipped me to recognise conditions which require conventional medical treatment or which would best be managed by other health professionals. For example, my great interest is helping people with chronic pain (pain that has been present for months or more), a condition in which there are always psychological and behavioural factors involved. When I recognised this, I took a three-year masters degree in health psychology in order that I may help these people better. Nevertheless I am not a qualified psychologist, and if there are issues of serious trauma or depression, deep emotional conflicts, or addiction then I would refer to a competent health professional for this aspect of the person’s care.

Copyright (c) Robert hale 2021.
Photo by Nick Youngson via Picpedia, reprosuced according to Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.

Robert Hale provides treatment for pain by osteopathy and acupuncture in Santa Eulalia, Ibiza.