05/09/2025
September is Pain Awareness Month.
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Non-specific Pain and especially CPP ( Chronic Pelvic Pain) remains a significant burden within the community- not least on affected patients
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Did you know that in chronic pain clinics, when screened for, neurodivergence is highly likely to be associated?
This is particularly true if the clientele are female/AFAB, as somatic symptoms are common presentations in this group.
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Why is this?
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Partly this is the ongoing gender gap in diagnosis; in part related to societal norms leading to higher masking etc
Partly it is also due to common comorbidities seen in neurodivergence
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EDS POTS and MCAS are commonly coexisting alongside neurodivergence at one time or another over a person’s lifetime.
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EDS alone causes the amygdala: the flight or fight (freeze/fawn/dissociate) centre to be up to 40% bigger!
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So, in bendy folk this “noodly” stretchy collagen of yours that is everywhere in your body has very little ability to hold structure. Your joints, tendons, muscles, arteries, pressure receptors in your heart, your inner ear, your eye coordination system literally everything is a bit out of whack!!
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It becomes pretty hard for your body to communicate position, movement and therefore how to coordinate safely
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So eventually you start to feel pretty unsafe in your own body. And maybe the only way for your body to communicate where it is in space and time is through nocioception (pain)
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Plus we know that overstretched joints and recurrent small strains etc will create injury. Small unmyelinated nerve fibres in skin and muscle become damaged. Possible MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome) contributes to inflammation, is grossly underestimated in Australia and is a common long Covid presentation
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So rather than just tell a bendy person they need to strengthen their muscles!
They need a holistic approach to managing hyper mobility and chronic pain.
A team who understands stabilising joints and proprioception. That incorporating balance as much as strength into exercise. To build in safety and trauma informed practices as much as practical skill
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Antihistamines + PEA +/- montelukast will often improve pain as well as periods
