Pain

Pain – what do I need to know?

Pain is a sensation and primarily a warning signal of our body, which should tell us: Something is wrong! This feeling comes from a very complex sequence of signals driven by the central nervous system. For example, in the context of inflammatory processes that can occur in irritation or injury, released chemical messengers. These in turn encourage the transmission of „danger messages“ to the brain. The brain then reports the feeling of „pain“ with the help of its experience.

​

Why is pain so important?

Without our sense of pain, we would hardly notice any injuries. Here, the pain as a warning signal ensures that we avoid the pain-causing movements and actions. Most pain thus protects us from further damage to the tissue and is therefore an important step in curing the injury.

​

What is the cause of pain?

Throughout our lives we can encounter a variety of pains. Back pain is considered in Germany as „common disease number 1“. But also neck pain, headaches and even toothaches have probably happened to many of us before.

Depending on the localization and intensity, there are individual causes and individual treatment options for the different types of pain. These should at best eliminate the cause of pain and not just treat symptoms. A therapist or doctor experienced in pain is the right person to contact.

These questions should get to the bottom of this:     

• Where exactly does it hurt?

• How long has the pain been?

• When or in which movements does the pain occur?
   

Why does the movement hurt?

Pain in the musculoskeletal system, such as back pain, neck pain or joint pain, are among the common complaints. Also, pain caused by sports injuries such as sprains or strains are included in this category. Movement pains are of particular importance because they can often become chronic (eg in case of osteoarthritis) and permanently impair everyday movement. For painful movement, it is important to get to the root of the cause in a timely manner and eliminate it. In motion pain, this is often an inflammation.

​

Injuries to muscles, ligaments or joints can cause inflammatory processes in the damaged tissue. This is the body’s first reaction to initiate healing. An inflammation manifests itself medically by the following five main signs (not all must always occur):

• reddening

• swelling

• warming

• limited function

• pain

​

Pain therapy

In the Westend of Frankfurt at HNL, we work together on various pain conditions to make everyday movements possible again and bearable. An alternative pain therapy without surgery or additional medication is to be made possible.

An active therapy approach with moderate movements plays an important role in successful therapy. Silence and the avoidance of certain movements make the problem worse and should be avoided or eliminated. Your therapist can show you how.