For a long time, it was thought that the amount of pain was directly related to the degree of tissue damage. In some cases, this is still true, such as with a fracture or a bruise after a fall. In such situations, the cause is clear and directly linked to the injury.

But with complaints that arise without a clear cause, that connection becomes much less clear. More than half of the complaints I see in my practice fall into this category.

In the case of chronic complaints, the connection with tissue damage is often not demonstrable at all. Scientific research repeatedly shows that in the case of long-term complaints, there is often no direct relationship with damage to the body. For example, in people with chronic back pain, the MRI scans look the same as in people without complaints. There are also older people with severe joint wear who experience no pain, while others without clear wear do have pain complaints that are consistent with joint wear.

Pain functions to protect the body against (imminent) damage. It is an intelligent but flexible system that can adapt over the course of life. It can become more or less sensitive due to experiences, stress, environment, or previous injuries.

This adaptability is no coincidence: this clever protection mechanism has probably greatly increased our chances of survival throughout evolution, precisely because it enabled us to constantly adapt to changing circumstances. Sometimes, however, this system adapts in such a way that pain loses its protective role and becomes an obstacle to recovery.

As an osteopath, it is my job to find out which underlying mechanisms are responsible for persistent complaints. Often it is not about visible damage, but about functional disorders that the body experiences as threatening.

Sometimes there are no clear functional problems to be found and yet there is pain. Often this is due to an oversensitive nervous system: innocent stimuli are then experienced as painful. This too is easily treated.

The approach: we repeat the movements that normally cause pain, while simultaneously offering another, safe stimulus to the nervous system. In this way, the pain stimulus is temporarily dampened and the brain can re-register the movement as safe. By repeating this in a controlled manner, we 'reprogram' the pain system and the pain reaction decreases.