The injury itself does not cause pain—the pain that we experienced is the brain’s response to the signal being sent from the injured part of the body. The pain response is your body’s way to protect you. Your brain literally thinks that an injury or emotional stress is placing you at risk, so it creates pain to force you to withdraw from the situation and seek healing. If your brain decides the signals are worth paying attention to, the pain volume is cranked up until the problem is resolved; if not, pain is put on mute.

Understanding how pain works in the brain can already be enough to reduce or rid you of pain. And if not, the knowledge will help you reason and adjust your assumptions to reduce and improve your pain relief!