Arthritis Pain Linked to Emotions
University Manchester April 2007:Arthritis Pain is directly linked with emotional issues!
The Rheumatic Disease Centre of the University of Manchester have published the
first ever study in April 2007 which indicates that Arthritis pain is directly liked with emotional issues!
They suggest that because emotions and fear has such a strong impact on arthritis pain the treatments should also focus on emotional relief!
Medical science states that your emotional state plays a role in NEARLY EVERY – many believe EVERY physical disease.
Even the conservative US Government public health agency CDC (Centre for Disease Control) states that 85% of all diseases have emotional elements.
Anxiety and stress are found to be the two primary reasons why most people become sick. A Russian study conducted in 2007 has also proven that 80% of cells are affected by the vibration of life = energy!
The study looked at how our brain processes the experience of pain. Advances in Neuro imaging has enabled us to discover the network of brain structures called the brain matrix.
This matrix consists of two parallel systems –
The Medial pain system - processes the emotional aspects of pain including fear and stress
The Lateral System - processes the physical sensations of pain – location, duration and intensity of the pain .
As there have been no direct comparisons of experimental and clinical pain performed in the same group of patients, the University of Manchester Rheumatic Diseases Unit have conducted the first study to directly compare the areas of the brain involved in processing arthritic pain and experimental pain in a group of patients with osteoarthritis.
Their results shed light on the role of emotions in how patients feel arthritis pain, and indicate that emotions play a major part in how patients perceive pain.
The study was conducted with focus on 12 patients with osteoarthritis in the knee. Six men and six women were involved, all with an average age of 52 years. All subjects underwent a Positron Emission Tomography test (PET) to map and measure the level of their brain activity.
These PET tests were conducted during 3 different pain conditions –> Arthritic knee pain, experimental pain (achieved by application of heat) and also while they were pain free.
It was found that in all patients suffering from osteoarthritis, that both the pain conditions (arthritis pain and pain brought on by heat) activated the entire pain matrix.
It was found, however, that during arthritic pain, activity was elevated in the medial pain system (emotional aspect) including the cingulate cortex, thalamus and amygdala parts of the brain.
Due to the undeniable correlation they suggest that because emotions and fear has such a strong impact on arthritis pain the treatments should also focus on emotional relief!
