Tag Archives: exploring possibilites

Understanding Pain

This Bank Holiday weekend a friend came round to see me because she had injured her knee and didn’t know what to do. In the course of our consultation, several things became very clear. Firstly, although the pain had subsided, the pain memory was very strong; as a consequence some of her movement was restricted not through pain but through the anticipation of pain. Secondly, she was very upset that the injury was caused by cycling and now she would have to give up her favourite activity. After a little discussion, we agreed what had caused the pain (not cycling) and found a strategy where she could continue to exercise and feel fitter without physical damage. Although we had only spent an hour together, her relief at understanding her pain and having a series of positive possibilities to explore was as important as her improved movement from the session. Scott Clark, Feldenkrais teacher and leader of the Feldenkrais Teacher Training in London has written an excellent article The Meaning of Pain which you can find here: http://www.feldenkrais.co.uk/articles/pain.html. Scott gives some clear and wonderful images about how we approach pain and the warning signs of injury.