Stress Axis in Brain and Nervous System Induce Chronic Pain
A review study here highlighting how a stressed out brain and nervous system create chronification of pain. The HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal) axis in the brain (limbic brain) influences changes in the autonomic nervous system to kick off the fight or flight sympathetic nervous system which can cause a whole host of physical ailments in the body or transition an acute injury into something chronic.
This is the single biggest thing missed in modern medicine. The role of the brain and nervous system in creating physical health complaints that are not structural or localized in nature. It comes from a stressed brain. We don’t routinely perform brain scans in healthcare so we don’t see how a stressed brain is the cause. The key is to ask the right questions and look at a person’s full psychosocial history. It’s usually pretty apparent and it amazes me over and over again how many people suffering have undergone thousands of dollars of treatment without one person asking the right questions.
As the father of medicine Hippocrates stated over 2400 years ago- “It’s more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.”
