How am I suppose to know if you are in pain?

Pain is an interesting topic!  It is the majority of what I deal with in practice on a daily basis.  People come to see me because they are in pain.  But pain is extremely difficult to measure.  How do I actually know you are in pain?  How do I know what your pain feels like?  Pain is an experience.  It is different for everyone.  Despite numerous people telling me that they have an extremely high pain tolerance, how do I know how high it is? And what are we comparing to your pain to?  There is no magic gadget that can tell me how much pain you are in, or the type of pain you are experiencing.  However, it is my job to figure out exactly what they are experiencing. 

Having experienced pain a patient describes can help understand what they are going through.  For example, if you have never had back pain, how can you know what a patient is going through.  If you have had back pain similar to what they describe, it is easier to understand what they are feeling (and how you can treat it!) 

There are also pain scales that can help determine how much pain you are actually in.  Research has shown them to be reliable and they can be a good tool to compare YOUR pain to YOUR pain.  For example, if you were a 7 out of 10 pain yesterday and are suffering from 4 out of 10 pain today, it helps to quantify a reduction in pain.  Your pain however cannot be compared to MY pain (remember, pain is an experience). 

Pain is simply (maybe over-simply) our brains interpretation of our experience.  This is why when we watch a TV show and we see someone injure themselves, we wince.  Isn't that strange, there is no perceived threat, but our brain interprets how painful the injury must be (for the person suffering) and we respond accordingly! 

So if someone tells you that the pain is just in your head, the technically aren't wrong...they maybe have not had the same experience as you!