Nerves that fire together wire together

In many of us – including me in my early 20s – the alarm system can become overly sensitive.  The pathway can be sensitised or calmed down at different points.  The longer the nerves involved in your pain pathways fire for, the more likely they are to make stronger connections with one another, which we experience as a sensitive and weak back.  Neurologists have a saying “Nerves that fire together wire together”.  This is essentially the process of learning.  Just as you can learn things consciously – like a foreign language – so your nervous system can learn pain, and this is by making connections between nerve fibres.

Now don’t worry, just as you can forget what you’ve learnt if you don’t use it, so your nervous system can forget a pain memory.

This is the importance of knowing your own Aggravators and Risk Factors.  The more aggravators and risk factors you and your back are exposed to, the harder it is to recover physically and neurologically.

Click here for Lesson 9 in the online course for lower back pain and sciatica.

Click here for Lesson 11 in the online course for lower back pain and sciatica.