Recent injury or sudden onset pain involves more than tissue damage. We identify the neurological factors amplifying your pain and accelerate your recovery.
Functional Neurology and P-DTR treatment for acute pain and injury. Based in Shiremoor, Newcastle.
| 17 years clinical experience | 5-star rated (30+ reviews) | Free taster session | Free parking on site | Sessions available this week |
When you experience an injury, multiple processes begin simultaneously. There is the physical damage to tissues, whether muscle, ligament, tendon, joint or other structures. There is the inflammatory response, bringing blood flow and healing factors to the area. And there is the neurological response, as your brain processes information about what happened and decides how much protection you need.
Most treatment focuses on the first two processes. Managing inflammation, supporting tissue healing, gradually loading the area as it recovers. This is sensible and important.
But the neurological component is often neglected. Your brain does not simply respond proportionally to the amount of tissue damage. It makes complex calculations based on receptor information, your history, your expectations, your context and many other factors.
This means that two people with identical injuries can have completely different pain experiences. It means that pain levels often do not match the severity of tissue damage. It means that recovery can stall for neurological reasons even when tissues are healing normally.
When you injure yourself, the receptors in the affected area are suddenly providing very different information than they were before. They may be damaged, compressed, stretched or affected by inflammation. The signals they send may be unclear, excessive or simply different from normal.
Your brain receives these signals and creates a protective response. Pain to make you careful. Muscle guarding to stabilise the area. Restricted movement to prevent further injury. These responses are appropriate immediately after injury.
The question is whether these responses are proportionate to the actual threat and whether they persist appropriately as healing progresses.
Sometimes the neurological response is excessive from the start. Your brain overestimates the threat and creates more pain and protection than the tissue damage warrants. This is not weakness or exaggeration. It is your nervous system making protective calculations based on the information it has.
Sometimes the neurological response fails to resolve as tissues heal. The injury improves, but the receptors continue to send signals that maintain protection. The tissue is ready to load, but your brain does not trust it.
In both cases, addressing the neurological component can significantly improve the outcome.
We recognise that acute pain involves both tissue and neurological components. Our goal is not to interfere with normal healing but to ensure that the neurological response is appropriate and does not become excessive or persistent.
When you come in with acute pain, we assess which neurological factors are contributing to your symptoms. We test receptor function throughout the affected area and in related regions. We identify which signals are driving the protective response.
Where we find inappropriate neurological dysfunction, we correct it using P-DTR techniques. This does not interfere with tissue healing. It ensures that your brain is receiving accurate information about the state of the tissues so it can create an appropriate, rather than excessive, protective response.
The result is often significant pain reduction even with genuine tissue injury. Movement improves because your brain trusts the available range. Recovery accelerates because you can rehabilitate more effectively when you are not fighting excessive neurological protection.
Muscle Strains and Tears:
When muscles are strained or torn, receptors throughout the muscle are affected. We identify which receptors are driving excessive protection and reset them. This reduces pain and allows appropriate movement during recovery.
Ligament Sprains:
Ligament injuries affect the joint receptors that tell your brain about stability and position. We test and correct joint receptor dysfunction to reduce pain and improve confidence in the joint.
Joint Injuries:
Acute joint injuries involve multiple receptor types. We assess the complete neurological picture and address the factors creating excessive protection.
Impact Injuries:
Knocks, falls and impacts create sudden changes in receptor signalling. We identify the neurological consequences and correct them.
Sudden Onset Pain:
Sometimes pain appears suddenly without obvious injury. This often indicates that accumulated dysfunction has reached a threshold. We identify the contributing factors and address them.
Normal tissue healing follows biological timelines that cannot be rushed. But recovery involves more than tissue healing. It involves restoration of normal movement, strength, coordination and confidence in the injured area.
These functional aspects of recovery are heavily influenced by neurological factors. If your brain does not trust an area, it restricts movement and inhibits strength. If receptors are not providing accurate information, coordination suffers.
By addressing neurological dysfunction, we remove barriers to functional recovery. You can move more freely because your brain allows it. You can strengthen more effectively because muscles are not inhibited. You can progress rehabilitation faster because you are not fighting your nervous system.
This does not mean we rush tissue healing or encourage you to do things that could cause re-injury. It means we optimise the neurological environment so that recovery proceeds as efficiently as possible.
One of the most important reasons to address neurological factors in acute pain is to prevent the transition to chronic pain.
Chronic pain often develops when the neurological patterns established after injury persist beyond tissue healing. The receptors continue to send faulty signals. The brain continues to create protection. Time passes, and the pattern becomes entrenched.
By addressing neurological dysfunction early, we prevent this entrenchment. We ensure that receptors are sending accurate signals about the recovering tissues. We ensure that protective responses resolve appropriately as healing progresses.
This is particularly important if you have a history of pain problems or if the current injury is in an area that has been injured before. Previous dysfunction creates predisposition to future problems.
If any of this applies, addressing the neurological component of your acute pain can improve your outcome.
“I tweaked my back badly and could barely move. One session with Sam and I was significantly better. The injury still needed time to heal, but the excessive pain and guarding resolved.”
— Client, Newcastle
“After spraining my ankle, Sam addressed the neurological component alongside normal rehab. I recovered much faster than previous ankle injuries.”
— Client, North Tyneside
Acute pain involves neurological factors that can amplify symptoms and slow recovery. We identify and address these factors so you heal faster and more completely.Book a free taster session and find out how we can help with your recent injury.Based in Shiremoor, Newcastle. Serving North Tyneside and surrounding areas. Sessions available this week. Free parking on site.
