The Mind-Body Connection: How Your Mindset Can Affect the Way You Feel Pain

Pain is defined as physical suffering or discomfort from injury or illness, but more and more research shows that our mindset has a significant effect on how we experience pain. The severity of symptoms from illness or injury have shown to be linked to our thoughts and perceptions. As important as physical therapies and treatments are in the healing process, adding positive mindset work to your regimen may boost your recovery and wellbeing.

The Biopsychosocial Approach to Pain & Healing

Pain is understood through the lens of the biopsychosocial model (say that 5 times fast😊). This approach considers the biological, psychological, and social factors that contribute to our experience of pain and illness. Stress, depression, anxiety, past trauma, and job dissatisfaction can all contribute to intensified symptoms and more severe chronic pain. When this multi-dimensional approach is used by medical professionals and experts, they can provide an individualized treatment plan for their patient that helps them improve on their physical conditions, stress levels, mindset, and more.

How Positive Thinking Can Affect Our Pain Levels

On a more positive note, positive thoughts and practicing a positive mindset have shown to decrease pain sensitivity and lessen the experience of chronic pain. This phenomenon has even been observed through neuroimaging. Positive thinking that resulted in reduced levels of pain correlated with higher brain activity in specific areas of the brain (the anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral insula, right secondary somatosensory cortex, and left orbital frontal cortex). This activity, or information, is communicated through the spine to different areas of the body, creating a central pathway of pain processing. When you think positively, you can change the message your brain sends to your pain receptors. Pretty incredible, isn’t it?

Now that we understand how our thoughts can affect our pain levels, let’s dive into how to integrate this into a healing practice.

Mind-Body Treatments to Promote Wellness

Mind-body therapy treatments that combine mind-focused therapies with physical therapies have shown to be more effective than traditional physical therapy treatments alone in healing chronic pain conditions. A holistic treatment plan helps to address the physical and psychological factors that may be triggering pain symptoms.

Mind-body approaches include practices like progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, laughter, mindfulness practices, guided imagery, yoga, and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Here are a few other practices you can incorporate into your daily routine to promote a healthier mind and happier body.

Keep a Gratitude Journal

Keeping a gratitude journal is a great daily practice to help improve your mindset because it’s simple and easy to fit into a busy routine. This is one of Teeter Move Trainer Katie’s top recommendations for creating a more productive and successful day.

What to do:

1. Find a journal, notebook, or piece of paper and a pen.

2. Take a few deep breaths and write down 10 things that you are grateful for.

It’s that simple! Practicing gratitude in this small way helps train your mind to focus on the positive in your everyday life.

Try Inversion Therapy

Inversion therapy is an effective tool both for relieving physical symptoms and promoting mental wellness. Hanging upside down on an inversion table or Dex II is a perfect way to dedicate a few minutes of your day to stretching, breathing, and relaxing. In addition to improving spine health, inversion has been shown to relieve stress and promote deep relaxation. Countless Teeter customers have shared that they treat their daily inversion session as their meditation session.

If you haven’t already, download the free Teeter Move app for help with your practice, giving you easy access to guided relaxation and stretching routines with the FitSpine Inversion Table.

Eat a Low-inflammation Diet

Eating an anti-inflammatory diet is one of the best ways to reduce stress, pain, and likelihood of disease.

The relationship between inflammation, physical and psychological stress, and the foods we eat is deeply inter-connected. Inflammation in the body leads to increased psychological stress, physical pain, and chronic disease. Inflammatory diets cause inflammation in the body, which can also dramatically increase our stress levels by affecting our autonomic nervous system, gut health, and cortisol levels.

Studies have also shown that physical and psychological stress can influence inflammation in the body as well as the foods we choose to eat. For example, the more stressed we are the more we start to crave highly inflammatory foods like refined sugars and processed foods.

An anti-inflammation diet prioritizes omega-3 fatty acids, natural antioxidants and fiber from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Foods high in vitamin B, magnesium, and protein also help to reduce stress and cortisol levels.

Check out these superfoods that help reduce inflammation and boost recovery.

We hope these practices help you feel empowered in your wellness journey. Every individual has different causes and contributing factors to pain, so it’s important to try different things, talk to your doctor, and follow the treatments and tools that work best for you. Take care!