- Our brain and nervous system can be trained to reduce pain and promote wound healing through principles of neuroplasticity. Consult a medical expert before trying any treatment.
- Pain is not always directly related to physical injury or damage, and the mind can create pain based on our thoughts and beliefs. Love can help modulate pain, and understanding the plasticity of perception is crucial in handling emotional pain and trauma.
- Areas of the body with denser receptors are more sensitive to pain. Fewer cells producing inflammation may result in slower healing. Effective treatments are available for extreme pain caused by mutations in sodium channels. The brain's representation of the body is scaled by sensitivity. Phantom limb pain demonstrates the relationship between peripheral and central maps.
- The brain's plasticity can be harnessed through simple sensory experiences, like visual imagery, to modulate pain perception. Pain is influenced by our beliefs, making it essential to understand the mind-body connection for healing and neuroplasticity.
- Encouraging activity in the injured limb while restricting movement in the opposite, healthy limb can lead to neuroplasticity, aiding recovery from motor injury. However, be cautious not to worsen the injury.
- When recovering from an injury or traumatic brain injury, limit activity on the healthy side to promote neural plasticity and focus on sensory-motor exercises to accelerate central plasticity without hindering recovery. Recovery from brain injuries is better early in life.
- The brain's ability to repair itself decreases with age, making it crucial to avoid further damage after a traumatic brain injury. Sleeping, exercise, and following medical advice aid in repairing the brain's lymphatic and glymphatic systems.
- Doing low-intensity cardio for 30 to 45 minutes, three times a week, can improve brain health and longevity by helping to remove debris from the brain. This exercise can be safely done alongside other forms of exercise, and a molecule called aquaporin four may be responsible for this mechanism. Additionally, how we perceive a sensory event has a significant impact on our experience of it, and adrenaline can blunt our pain during a fight, but we may feel it more acutely afterward.
- Thinking about a loved one can reduce physical pain levels. This effect is greater with intense infatuation and attributed to the release of dopamine in the brain. Understanding this can be helpful in pain management and for overall positive life experiences.
- Acupuncture works by tapping into the communication between our internal and external world, providing relief for pain and regulating our mind and body. Its potential applications are vast, including in the treatment of referred pain.
- Acupuncture involves stimulating certain points in the body to achieve desired effects. Effective stimulation depends on factors like intensity and location, as different types of stimulation can lead to vastly different outcomes.
- Inflammation is vital for the healing process, but chronic inflammation can be harmful. Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties, but excessive consumption can lead to adverse effects. The body has adaptive mechanisms to counter infection and stress, but it should be balanced to prevent harm.
- Prioritize quality sleep, deep breathing, daily walking, and heat therapy for effective tissue rehab and glymphatic clearance. Avoid ice therapy and seek medical guidance for optimal recovery.
- Heat, movement, sleep, and light are natural ways to aid healing and pain relief, while ice packs may not be effective. Chronic pain may require rewiring the brain, and red light therapy may help with fibromyalgia.
- To optimize inflammation response, prioritize deep sleep and exercise, consider red light therapy or sunlight, and approach stem cell and PRP treatments with caution. Thorough research is crucial, as these treatments have potential risks.
- Young blood transfusions may be helpful in restoring memory and promoting wound healing. Research is underway to identify the factors within young blood and brains that allow for better recovery and vitality, leading to the development of safe treatments.
📝 Podcast Summary
Using Neuroplasticity to Reduce Pain and Promote Wound Healing
Neuroplasticity can be used to remove pain and promote wound healing, but it requires directed efforts towards desired outcomes. The somato sensory system plays a crucial role in our ability to perceive touch and pain. The information received by the sensors in our skin is interpreted by the centers in the brain and spinal cord. Principles of neuroplasticity can be employed to promote wound healing and reduce pain, including the use of tools such as acupuncture and modern medicine. It is important to remember to always consult with a medical expert before making any changes to your daily protocols.
The Complexities of Pain and How Love Plays a Role in Alleviating It
The experience of pain is complex and can involve both physical and mental components, which can be dissociated from one another. One can have tissue damage without feeling any pain and conversely, can feel pain without any tissue damage. The mind has an incredible capacity to interpret and create the experience of pain based on what we see or believe. Understanding the principles of the pain system can help us differentiate between injury and pain and interpret our pain better. Love can play a role in modulating the pain response, and the type of connection one has to their romantic partner can dictate whether or not their love for them will alleviate physical pain. The plasticity of perception is crucial in understanding emotional pain and trauma.
Sensitivity to Pain and Inflammation
Areas of the body with denser receptors tend to be more sensitive to pain than others. Injury to larger, less sensitive areas may result in less pain and slower healing due to fewer cells producing inflammation. Inflammation is not necessarily bad; it is the tissue repair response, and there are ways to modulate it in response to injury or exercise. Individuals with a mutation in a sodium channel may experience extreme pain from even subtle stimuli, but there are effective drug treatments to block this channel and provide relief. The representation of our body surface in our brain, called a homunculus or 'dog ulus,' is scaled according to sensitivity, with more brain real estate devoted to areas such as the lips, fingertips, and genitalia. The relationship between the periphery and central maps can be seen in phantom limb pain, where amputees still feel as though they have the missing limb or appendage.
The Brain's Power to Control Pain Perception
The brain has the incredible ability to control pain perception in the body, as demonstrated by the use of visual imagery to remap the representation of a phantom limb. Ramachandran's mirror box technique is a powerful example of top-down modulation that anyone can benefit from, not just people missing limbs or in chronic pain. Plasticity, or the brain's ability to adapt and reorganize itself, can be driven by simple sensory experiences such as visual imagery. Pain is not just a physical sensation, but also a belief system about what one is experiencing in the body, which has important implications for healing and neuroplasticity.
Restricting Use of Uninjured Limb can Accelerate Motor Recovery
Restricting the use of the opposite better performing uninjured limb or hand or other part of the body can accelerate the speed of recovery in case of motor injury. Studies show that by encouraging activity of the injured limb and restricting movement of the opposite healthy part of the body, plasticity happens on both sides of the brain as the two sides are connected via the corpus callosum. While brushing teeth with the opposite hand may cause neuroplasticity, it may not be the most effective use of this potential. Timely restricting movement of the uninjured part of the body in case of an injured limb or damage centrally in the brain can help in overcoming motor injury. However, it is important to exercise caution and not exacerbate the injury further.
Focusing on the Injured Limb and Sensory-Motor Exercises for Faster Recovery
When recovering from an injury, it is important to restrict the activity of the healthy limb and focus on overworking the injured side to promote neural plasticity and faster recovery. This principle also applies to traumatic brain injury, where it is important to understand the severity and individual symptoms to promote recovery. Doing dedicated sensory-motor exercises for a few hours each day helps accelerate central plasticity and recover motor and sensory function without creating runaway plasticity that can hinder recovery. Additionally, the Kenard principle suggests that brain injuries are better recovered from early in life than later in life.
Repairing the Brain After Traumatic Brain Injury: Key Factors to Consider
The brain has a greater capacity for repairing itself early in life compared to later. Avoiding a second TBI or concussion is crucial to prevent further damage. The lymphatic system plays a significant role in repairing injured neurons after a TBI, and sleeping aids the glymphatic system in removing debris between neurons. Sleeping on one side or with feet slightly elevated and regular exercise can activate the glymphatic system further. It is important to follow physician's advice regarding exercise, and getting adequate sleep is necessary for repairing the brain after TBI.
The Benefits of Low-Intensity Cardio for Brain Health and Longevity
Low level cardio for 30 to 45 minutes three times a week can improve the glymphatic system and help wash out debris from the brain, promoting brain longevity and health. This kind of exercise can be done safely alongside other forms of cardio and weights training. Aquaporin four is a molecule related to the glial system that could be responsible for this mechanism. Moreover, the subjective interpretation of a sensory event is immensely powerful in dictating one's experience of the event. Adrenaline can blunt our experience of pain during a fight, but it is incredible how much it hurts after a fight.
The Power of Love: A Natural Painkiller
Love and infatuation can blunt the experience of physical pain. Studies suggest that thinking about a loved one or pet can reduce the threshold for pain and make it less painful. However, the intensity of this effect is directly proportional to the level of infatuation and obsession that the person experiences towards the object of their love. Moreover, these effects are attributed to the release of dopamine in the brain and body during infatuation. The effect of love and obsession on reducing physical pain is not limited to a placebo effect, but is based on a top-down modulation of the pain system. The pain system is also subject to cognitive and perceptual influences, which can affect the way it is woven into the autonomic nervous system. Understanding the role of love and infatuation in reducing pain is important for pain management and overall positive life experiences.
The Mechanisms and Benefits of Acupuncture
Acupuncture can provide both relief and exacerbation for pain and its mechanisms are being studied by rigorous variable isolating experiments. The somatotopic representation of the body surface in the brain is smooth and neurons representing nearby body parts are synchronized with meaning. Our internal workings and surface of our skin and the external world are seamlessly combined, giving rise to experiences such as pain and love. Understanding the mechanism of acupuncture can lead to expanded treatments for a variety of conditions. The National Institutes of Health in the United States has an entire division dedicated to complementary health which includes acupuncture. Acupuncture illuminates the crosstalk between the somatic sensory and autonomic nervous systems, regulating levels of alertness and calmness. It can also provide relief for referred pain.
The Importance of Strategic Acupuncture Stimulation.
Acupuncture is a method of stimulating specific locations on the body to achieve certain effects, such as reducing inflammation or combating infection. The effectiveness of acupuncture depends heavily on the intensity and location of the stimulation. Electro acupuncture has been shown to be effective in increasing inflammation in the body, which can be beneficial in certain conditions. Stimulation of the feet and hands at low intensity can reduce inflammation and activate calming responses in the body. It is important to approach acupuncture with a systematic understanding of the effects that are being sought, as different types of stimulation can lead to vastly different outcomes.
Importance of Inflammation and its Management
Inflammation plays a crucial role in healing from injury, and acute inflammation is beneficial, but chronic inflammation is not. Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties, but it can be heavily contaminated with lead and antagonistic to dihydro testosterone in men. It can also cause a severe blunting of affect and libido for some people. The body has pathways to increase inflammation to counter infections and stress, but it should be kept in check. WIM H breathing can release adrenaline, which counters infection, but the duration of the adrenaline response should be regulated. Stress, inflammation, and countering infection are adaptive short-term plasticity designed to make us better, not worse, if kept in check.
Essential Protocols and Habits for Injury Recovery
Proper sleep and non-slip deep breath protocols are non-negotiable for tissue rehabilitation and glymphatic clearance. A 10-minute walk per day, and heat therapy are also beneficial for recovery. Contrary to popular belief, ice therapy can actually increase inflammation and restrict movement out of the injury site. It is important to consult a physician and follow expert advice for injury management and recovery.
Factors that aid wound healing and pain reduction
Heat, movement, sleep, and light can aid in wound healing and reducing pain, while ice packs may only provide a placebo effect. In neuroscience, cooling neurons can silence them, but when they heat back up, they become hyperactive. Chronic pain involves plasticity gone wrong and may require rewiring both brain and peripheral centers. For fibromyalgia, red light therapy may have some utility, with systemic therapy approximating the effects of sunlight. Movement and releasing/restricting above and below the injury site may accelerate healing. Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs may not be the best option for reducing inflammation at the beginning.
Principles for Optimizing Inflammation Response and Caution with Stem Cell and PRP Treatments
The inflammation response is good for limiting pain and promoting healing, but there are specific principles for optimizing it, such as improving perfusion through deep sleep and exercise, and potentially using red light therapy or sunlight. Stem cell treatments are an evolving area and should be approached with caution, as they have the potential to become tumor cells if not molecularly restricted. Platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatments are complicated and have uncertain effects separate from injecting fluid into a tissue. It's important to be cautious and do thorough research before deciding on any of these treatments.
Exploring the Potential Benefits of Young Blood Transfusions
Young blood transfusions may have potential to help with memory restoration, wound healing and more. While it is unlikely that blood transfusions would be used as a treatment for dementia, research is being done to identify the factors within young blood and brains that allow for better recovery and vitality. Scientists are working to isolate these factors and develop safe treatments based on these findings. It is important to be informed about the potential benefits and risks of any treatment, whether it be stem cell injections or young blood transfusions.
Resources
- The Ready State/Dr. Kelly Starrett
- Love and Pain Study (Mackey et al; Pain Medicine)
