Resources for: What is Pain?

“Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”

International Association for the Study of Pain

Learn More About Pain

David Butler and Lorimer Moseley coined the term “protectometer” as a tool to help understand and manage the pain experience. The protectometer is the brain’s interpretation of signals from the body to understand if there is danger or not. It allows the body to prepare for any signs of threat. Without sensing threat, it gives time for the body to rest and recharge. 

The protectometer accounts for the net of “Danger in Me signals” (DIMS) and “Safety in me signals” (SIMS).

DIMS>SIMS = sympathetic nervous system arousal
-fight, flight or fright response
  • more vigilant
  • narrowed focus
  • prepared for threat
  • lowered pain threshold
SIMS>DIMS = parasympathetic nervous system arousal
-calming response
  • more relaxed
  • open-minded lens
  • more flexibility in thought process
  • less sensitive pain alarm system
Photo by Nout Gons on Pexels.com
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

Any signal – the things we see, hear, touch, taste; the things we do; the places we go; the people we come across – can be interpreted as ‘danger’ or ‘safety’. The same signal will be responded to differently by each individual, depending on their environment, past experience, expectations of the signal, and their social circle. Therefore, every signal can be changed from a SIM to a DIM or vice versa, since the brain is always changing. 

To manage pain, it is important to slowly rewire the brain’s interpretation of DIMS that are known to be unharmful to us, so we start seeing them as SIMS again. Some strategies are graded exposure, and increasing self efficacy by observing others in the face of the same SIM and changing our thinking pattern regarding it.

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