Pain Modulation – Introduction

It doesn’t really matter how long you’ve been running for, you will most likely have experienced physical pain at some point in your life – whether it was running related or not.

Most people see being in pain as a limiting factor in their lives, stopping them from doing the sports and activities that they love but also negatively impacting other aspects of their lives and the people around them. Sometimes the experience of pain can be so debilitating that you can feel like doing nothing at all.

If you are experiencing pain, and have been for some time, then you have probably tried a number of things to resolve it. From pain killer medication to mobility exercises and tools such as stretches, foam rollers and massage guns. You’ve also likely spoken to and sought help from others, hoping they’ll have a solution for you: other runners; perhaps your doctor; a massage therapist; a sports physiotherapist; a specialist pain clinic. But if you still have your pain, where can you go next?

It is for this very reason that in 2019 I went on a mission to uncover what pain is and how pain works, and to find methods of working with runners and other active people where it meant I never ran out of options to help them.

I spent the most of the pandemic period deep in training courses, self-experimenting, and working with those I was able to see, in order to refine and understand more – and I haven’t stopped since. I’ve continued to build upon that solid foundation to gain a deeper understanding of pain and how I can help my clients to modulate and manage it, often eliminating it altogether. It has been a journey that has opened my eyes to an entirely different world of how we work as humans, and how we can take advantage of that to improve our pain and ultimately our performance and our lives in general.

The wonderful world of the neuroscience of pain is continually evolving and offering us insights and options that just weren’t available even a few years ago. What strikes me most is how simple most of the approaches are: when you work with what your body needs, results can be very fast and can be long-lasting. However, I’ve also learned that everyone is unique and while one person’s pain may resolve in minutes, it may take several weeks or months for someone else to achieve the same. Ultimately, it’s your system and we need to find the right key at the right time.

Specialist Pain Modulation Sessions

The availability of specialist one to one sessions I run are very limited, and this is mainly due to the amount of investigative work I need to do when working with clients. For each session I conduct in person, there is usually one to two hours of research and planning outside of the session that needs to be done. This is why I can get results where others can’t: it’s a journey that both myself and the client embark on, and it may be a very short journey to success or it can take some time.

If you would like to speak to me about the one to one service or other ways you think I may be able to help you, please complete the form here.

In the meantime, I have written some articles about pain so that you can begin to understand just how complex the subject of pain really is.

Best wishes,

Chris O’Brien
Founder
RunTeach