Hey Beni,

I am glad you replied (and no, I didn’t feel any defensiveness on your part).

It’s not really pain it’s more that my right leg feels a bit different (colder) and I have like a 1 in my back if it gets more I just stop.

Okay, 1 is a really small pain, and if you stop if it gets any higher, I guess that’s safe enough.

As for the cold feeling in your leg, that’s the sciatic nerve. So I guess it does get affected a little. Have you tried taking vitamin B6? I’ve tried it when I felt tension in my nerve, and it helped.

I use my body way more cautious these day’s way more soft and I take more breaks…. I ride ramps mostly they’re round you fall different you have less impact. It feels okay to do it. I use my body different than a year ago way more conscious.

That’s good to hear! To be honest, I was afraid that you’re minimizing the impact and sort of telling yourself that the pain is only in your head. But if you stop yourself after the pain gets above 1, then I think you’re pretty cautious about it.

What I’ve learned (based on the teachings of Drs Sarno, Schubiner, Hanscom etc) is that pain (specially chronic pain) depends on the way we perceive danger. Pain is created in the brain, based on the impulses we receive from the body, but also the level of danger we perceive.

If we believe that a movement is dangerous/unsafe, we will feel more pain, because pain is the brain’s alarm to stop doing that what is dangerous. If we believe that the movement is safe, we will feel less pain.

Before I’ve learned this, every time I’d accidentally make a wrong move and started feeling pain, I would panic and fear that I’ve messed it up and wouldn’t be able to recover from it. I perceived danger from every “less than perfect” movement. And that’s what increased the pain and made me worry even more. That mental anguish and worry was actually very exhausting, it wasn’t good for my mental health at all.

So I’ve learned to accept that not every less-than-perfect move is dangerous, and this made me much more relaxed about feeling pain. Because I know that in a few days I’ll be back to normal again, and that I haven’t messed it up irreversibly.

I did the injection because the doc told me the insurance might not pay. I was afraid that when I do not have pain I might overdo myself.

Oh I see, so you didn’t even want an injection because you were afraid you won’t feel the pain and then you’d overdo yourself. This means you didn’t really want to minimize the pain – you wanted to feel it, so that it guides you. I assumed the opposite – that you minimized it so you can keep skating. I apologize for that – that was my false assumption.

That time I had very clear feedback from my body when I needed a break. Now it’s not so clear sometimes it’s activity sometimes mood.

Yeah, that’s the nature of chronic pain. The nerve endings get sensitized over time, and as soon as there is an inkling of pain, the whole “pain circle” in the brain gets activated. And yes, it depends on the mood too, because if you are afraid you did something dangerous, it hurts more.

Yeah, I kinda wanna let go of that cause it’s most times a combination between mood and physical activity or one of them. And if I’m honest I don’t know what it is

I guess it’s both: a pain signal from the injured place, combined with the “pain circle” in the brain, which magnifies that pain if you perceive it as dangerous.

I think this is what you’ve described here:

I have been observing that when I’m in touch and I fall on a Skateboard it does not hurt it’s kind of a sweet pain. As soon as there is a slight pressure (my mind wants to take control). I get more stiff it hurts and I feel I can get injured.

the last 4 times I observed when I’m in pain there’s also guilt or abandonment around and not only as science say’s wrong movement. I might just feel this way because I belief it’s not good for me.

So when you fall, if you don’t feel afraid, you only feel “sweet pain.” Or your brain interprets it as “sweet”. But if you start doubting, feeling guilty that you did something you shouldn’t have done, you get stiff and it hurts, and then you feel that in that stiff posture, you might really injure yourself (I get more stiff it hurts and I feel I can get injured.) Am I understanding this right?

it’s most times a combination between mood and physical activity or one of them. And if I’m honest I don’t know what it is and I noticed that I need to let go of these good/bad beliefs. Wrong movement that’s too easy to say.

Yeah, I think it’s a combination of the real physical pain and the pain generated in the brain, which serves as a danger signal. For me, as an anxious person by nature, my brain was producing more pain, to warn me of the potential danger. In other words, my “alarm” is too sensitive and goes off even when it shouldn’t.

I don’t know how it is for you. When I wrote that post, telling you to be more cautious, I thought that maybe your “alarm” is not sensitive enough. But I am not thinking that any more, because you actually said you want to use pain as your guide not to overdo yourself. So it’s not like you want to numb and minimize your pain.

Anyway, let me know what you think about all this. Maybe I am overthinking it. But since it’s about spine, I kind of feel I have to 🙂

A Neuro-Surgeon told me that it’s hard for doctor’s to know if what they did helped or if it was placebo. And he’s researching this.

Yeah, Dr. Hanscom is also a neurosurgeon, who stopped doing spine surgeries once he realized that the success rate of those surgeries is only about 20%. Many people didn’t get the pain relief they were hoping for. That’s why I think nowadays they don’t push those surgeries unless it’s a must, like when the nerve is pinched and the person suffers incontinence, cannot move their legs and suchlike.

I hear that you did a small move and had big impact which makes you very cautious. I think this is how we are conditioned mostly. Because you had this experience you can be that cautious.

Yeah, it definitely wasn’t good for my anxiety. Because in the beginning, I didn’t even think anything of it, I wasn’t anxious at all, thought it would go away in a matter of days. But then as it wouldn’t go away and it got worse (partly because I wasn’t told I should be cautious), it really made me overly cautious and fearing my ever move.