When symptoms have become a conditioned response, and how you can untrain your brain
I used to believe that typing was bad for my wrists. And I lived with chronic wrist pain that prevented me from typing, gardening, carrying my children, and on bad days even opening jars or doors. Here’s how that kind of pain works — and how it can change.
Here’s how a conditioned response works:
You notice a twinge in your lower back. In the fraction of a second before you’ve even consciously registered it, your nervous system is already sounding the alarm. Oh, no! I’ve got a day at home with my sick toddler, they’re going to want to be carried around all day – this is one I hear frequently from my clients with back pain. Thus starts a rotten day stuck at home, where by the evening you’ll be in agony. That’s essentially how pain operates when it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.