In our society today, it is commonplace to take Ibuprofen (Brand name: Advil) when we have a headache. We look to treatments that exist outside of the body to treat the pain coming from within. Although pain relief can be achieved externally, including pills, wouldn't it make sense to treat our pain internally, where it originates?
Dr. Norman Doidge, in his book "The Brain's Way of Healing," describes chronic pain management lead by Dr. Michael Moskowitz without the use of medications. The idea is based on neuroplasticity, or the ability of the brain to change as it adapts to the constantly changing environment, creating and pruning neural pathways.
Relying on neuroplasticity, Dr. Moskowitz discusses fighting pain by suppressing neural pathways involved with pain perception and activating the neural pathways that are involved in a different task.
Specifically, Dr. Moskowitz has focused on the activation of mental imagery or overcoming pain by stimulating the brain's visualization pathways. A famous neuropsychologist, Donald Hebb, coined the phrase, "neurons that fire together, wire together." The phrase implies that when you experience pain, the neurons involved in the processing of the pain fire together. With repetition, these neurons wire together, producing the experience and perception of pain more easily.
Specifically, Dr. Moskowitz instructs his patients to visualize the shrinking of the pain areas in the brain. Introducing the neurons involved in visualization when exposed to pain effectively rewires the brain such that the brain will adapt to visualize instead of activating the neurons that produce pain.
It is possible that such non-traditional treatment reliant on mental relentlessness may not work for everyone. However, such thoughts shed light into a potential alternative to pain management.
Especially with the misuse and addiction to opioids on the rise today, this is an extremely important consideration in my opinion.
