Have you ever had an old injury that doesn't bother you anymore and someone asks "how is that old injury of yours" and you start to notice some pain. Perhaps you ankle isn't bothering you and you suddenly look down at it and notice some old aches creep up. Perhaps every time you recall trauma you remember a loud sound very vividly. These are all signs of a couple of the spinopathways that we assess for in P-DTR.
What is a Nociceptive Pathway?
Nociceptive Pathways are unique in the fact it is the pathway itself that is dysfunctional. Nociception could be thought of as life threatening or harmful stimuli. The Anterolateral System is one of the many pathways that ascend the spinal cord.
The Anterolateral System can be broken down into:
Spinotectal
Audio
Visual
Spinomesencephalic
Spinohypothalamic
Spinoreticular
Spinothalamic
2 Examples of a Painful experiences we will analyze while discussing these pathways:
Its a beautiful fall day and you decide to take a walk. There are some dried up leaves on the ground that make that fantastic crunch sound like potato chips. As you're walking you might step on a fallen stick weird and you sprain/strain your ankle causing you pain.
In this scenario you are in your kitchen and preparing vegetables for dinner. As you slice you're chopping away you slice your finger
Spinotectal-Audio Pathway
Trouble with the Spinotectal-Audio pathway can occur when a localized sound is associated with a trauma or event.
In the 1st example as you are walking there is the crunching sound of the leaves around the ankles when the trauma occurs. The brain might connect the sound of the leaves to the pain or weakness felt, meaning perhaps every fall when the leaves fall you notice that old injury likes to pop up.
In the 2nd example there may be the "chop chop chop" sound of the knife hitting the cutting board when you feel the pain happen and your brain connects sound around your hurt finger to the pain. Perhaps every time you're chopping vegetables in the future you notice that same pain occur.
Spinotectal-Visual Pathway
The Spinotectal Visual Pathway is related to how your body interprets the visual information.
Regarding the 1st example about spraining the ankle when the issue occurs; the 1st thing you might do is look at your ankle to assess it and see whats happening in that area. From then on your brain might pair looking at your ankle to the pain or weakness it experienced in that moment.
If you were chopping vegetables and cut your finger it would be weird if your first instinct was to look in the opposite direction. Usually your eyes will be drawn straight to the cut to see what was going on. This might pair a Spinotectal-Visual issue with looking at your fingers.
It should be noted you don't have to have an actual line of sight to these issues but can even find these kinds of problems inside the mouth. With these it might be more of seeing it in the mind and pretending you have x-ray vision to find the right spot.
Spinomescencephalic Pathway
Spinomescencephalic a pathway associated with primitive emotions such as fear, suffering and pain. This means even recalling the pain and suffering you experience in the moment of the trauma or emotional event can cause related issues to come back.
Another aspect of P-DTR is clear out complex emotions related to specific events or thoughts. However if there is also an existing Spinomescencephalic pathway issue this needs to be cleared out first otherwise a primitive emotion can bring back a complex emotion. Often when there is a Spinomescencephalic and a full emotional correction you will often hear clients talk about how they don't trust their healed injury, worried issues will re-occur and have some emotional trauma around the area or event of concern.
What can P-DTR do to help with these issues?
P-DTR has the tools needed to determine if these spinopathways are causing an issue wit the way your body interprets this stimulus. Correcting these dysfunctions can lead to decreased pain, increased range of motion, healthier organs/glands, more confidence in healed injuries and better nerve conductivity due to entrapment.
Can massage therapy help these issues?
This dysfunction and problem is specifically neurological. Functional Neurology techniques will be required to clear this issue and restore proper function to the central nervous system and brain.
How to Better prepare for you Session
The one nice things about these issues is they are easy to test on yourself. If you notice a lot of pain when there is sound around your injury it is likely related to Spinotectal-Audio. When looking at your trauma, if pain occurs then it is most likely a Spinotectal-Visual. Finally, if you find just thinking about your pain or trauma brings it back then it is likely triggered by a Spinomescencephalic pathway issue.
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