Central Sensitization

Central sensitization is a process in which the central nervous system becomes more sensitive to pain, as result of some sort of trauma or insult to the body.  It’s had a huge impact on my own life, one that’s stretched far beyond the initial injuries that caused me to develop it in the first place.

I’ve recently begun to tell the story of “How I developed central sensitization,” in a series posts about how, after years of pushing my body to the limit as a high school athlete, my nervous system went a little bit haywire.

These stories are incredibly personal to me, yet I believe central sensitization is a dramatically under-recognized problem, and my goal here is to raise awareness.  It took me years of suffering before I understood what was happening, and it shouldn’t have to be that way.

So on my blog, I tell my own personal stories as well as highlight research that I find noteworthy.  After all, the more we know as patients, the better we can advocate for ourselves.

Here are some of the posts I’ve written on central sensitization so far:

How I developed central sensitization — the story of my own journey

Making sense of the science:

• What is central sensitization?
• The nervous system and chronic pain
• How Clifford Woolf discovered central sensitization and why you shouldn’t blame yourself for chronic pain
• Central Sensitivity Syndromes
• What I really want you to know about how central sensitization has impacted my own life
• Learning about central sensitization: the power of naming, and the future of pain treatment: Reasons to be optimistic as awareness grows
• Todd Hargrove: Seven Things You Should Know About about Pain Science
• Let’s give this a whirl: explaining a scientific article in plain English (the article in question is “Central Sensitization: A Generator of Pain Hypersensitivity by Central Neural Plasticity” by Alban Latremoliere and Clifford J. Woolf).