19 Sept 2014

The Pain Gate Theory Explains How Massage Reduces Pain

Sorry Pain, you cannot pass through the gate. Pleasure gets priority.
Have you ever stumbled through your living room in the night to have the corner of the coffee table come in direct full-swing contact with your shin? I have many times - gee, maybe I should move the table - and I often find myself instinctively reaching for the injured area to briskly rub it.

Why is that?

One theory is that our brains don't want to feel pain and have mechanisms in place to reduce our perception of it. The ascending nerve pathways (sensation information going to the brain) have a preference for input that brings pleasure. That's right, we are all wired to feel pleasure before pain. So when we injure ourselves our instincts make us rub the sore spot to intercept the pain signals also trying to reach the brain.

Imagine that there is a gate keeper on the road to the brain, and a pain signal and a pleasure signal arrive at the gate at the same time. If the signal for pain isn't that important, ie: not life threatening, the pleasure signal will be allowed to pass through first and will arrive at the brain faster. The brain will receive the signal of pleasure before the signal of pain and therefore down-regulate the pain's message.

How does this relate to massage therapy?

With this theory in mind one can apply the concept of pain management through positive touch. If you suffer from chronic pain such as arthritis, headaches, fibromyalgia, et cetra you might perceive less discomfort from these ailments by experiencing pleasant cutaneous sensations in other areas of your body. To clarify: by receiving a soothing massage your brain may "turn-down" the pain signals it has been receiving in order to give preference to the pleasure signals.

Ronald Melzack, a Canadian researcher, with Patrick Wall introduced their "gate control" theory of pain in 1965. This theory changed how we look at pain perception and is still relevant to how pain management is approached. These researchers also validated the role of psychology in pain management by examining how mental state influences perception of pain.

One big piece to the psychological component of pain perception is how you think about pain when it is occurring to you. Your mood, personal experiences, environment, and context of stimulation can all alter how the brain experiences pain. People who live with chronic pain syndromes can learn to down-regulate or choose not to perceive as much pain by controlling their thoughts about pain. But this is a whole other discussion in itself.

Who can benefit from massage in this way?

A little positive touch can go a long way.
People suffering from these common conditions could benefit from regular massage therapy to reduce pain:
  • Osteoprosis
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Fracture
  • Pregnancy
  • Cancer
  • AIDS
No, I'm not promising that massage therapy will solve your health concern or disease, but it can improve your quality of life by reducing the amount of pain that your brain perceives.

Massage therapy has an incredible breadth of application and can be useful for anyone looking to improve their quality of life by making their body as functional and pain-free as possible.

In wellness,
Dana


P.S.   If you feel like getting a bit nerdy and learning about neuoranatomy and chronic pain management, I've included some links that have been helpful to me.

Resources:
  • Dr Ronald Melzack discusses human pain perception and the development of his Pain Gate Theory(5:25 Pain Gate Theory introduced):   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRFanGInvlc
 

  •  Dr John Campbell explains The Ascending Gating Mechanism (Pain Gate Theory description starts at approx 1:20 mins):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9qbXKIAeNo
  •  Graceful Agony blog post about the Pain Gate Theory: 
    http://gracefulagony.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/gate-control-theory-of-pain/

4 comments:

  1. So good, Dana, thank you. This area of research is fascinating to me too and I'm glad you're writing about it. It's wonderful the benefits of massage in this way. I'm returning to To soon and studying Integrated Lymphatic Drainage starting Monday. Had a good visit with Lynn and Larry while we 3 were en route from Hornby to Vancouver Island. Love to your family, from me and from Ansel .... All best wishes with your work as you apply your skills to relieve pain and enhance quality of life for so many people! Raje

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice to hear from you, Raje! I'm so glad this post resonated with you.
      Wonderful to hear that you are learning about lymphatic drainage, what an important and under-appreciated system. And it's so amazing how directly it can be affected by manual therapists such as ourselves.
      In health,
      Dana

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete