In this post we explore why using a first principles approach to pain and muscle tightness leads to more effective solutions.
“First principles thinking is the art of breaking down complex problems into their most fundamental truths. It’s a way of thinking that goes beyond the surface and allows us to see things from a new perspective.
Thinking in terms of first principles allows us to identify the root causes and strip away the layers of complexity and focus on the most effective solutions.”
That quote is from Shane Parrish on first principles thinking from his mental models series.
First principles thinking in the context of the body, enables us to find more effective solutions when we experience unwanted sensations like pain and muscle tightness.
The first step is understanding what humans actually are.
What is the human body from a first principles perspective?
The human body is a complex system of systems. It has a built in network control system that governs its movement and seeks to maintain homeostasis.
Everything that happens in your body is governed by the super computer that resides in your skull. From that dark enclosed space, its job is to figure out exactly what’s going on and do its best to keep you safe.
It does this by making best guesses from the information it’s receiving and adjusting as necessary. It’s instructive that there is 10 x more information flowing upwards to the brain than there is flowing downwards away from it.
Even what we see with our eyes and take for granted as reality, is generated based on a series of best guesses. Vision is more accurately thought of as the output of a generative model, rather than actual sensory data.
This is done so well that we don’t usually notice, but experiments like these hint at what’s actually going on.
Hardware v software in the body
This is all very interesting and perhaps even a little disconcerting. But how does this relate to that pain in your knee that you can’t seem to shift? Or the tightness on the top of your shoulders that won’t go away?
Whenever we have an unpleasant sensation coming from an area of our body, we first presume there must be an issue with the local hardware. Think of this as the muscles, tendons or ligaments in the area. This is intuitive. I have a pain here so the problem must be er… here.
Whilst this might be true with acute injuries like fractures and muscle tears, ongoing or chronic issues pose a different challenge. Here we are most likely dealing with a software problem.
What is the body’s software?
The nervous system can be thought of as the software of the body. Without it nothing functions
It comprises the central nervous system, which is the brain and the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system, which branches out to control your muscles and your organs.
The nervous system is more than just an operating system however. As we’ve already seen, its primary role is to keep you safe. One of the ways it does this is by using pain to direct your behaviour.
Pain is an alarm system
Pain is an output based on how much danger your nervous system thinks you’re in.
This is not just contingent on your current circumstances, it also takes your previous experiences into consideration.
Think how quickly your hand recoils if you touch a hot stove. Without this feedback your skin would sustain significant damage. You’re also no doubt a little more cautious the next time you cook.
The same system is at work but perhaps in a less obvious way with chronic or ongoing issues. Its ultimate goal remains the same however, to keep you safe.
Accurate feedback is critical to improve muscle function and reduce pain
I mentioned earlier that there are 10 x more neurons feeding back to the system than there are feeding out to it.
This feedback comes from a variety of areas including your skin, ligaments, tendons, joints, and most important of all, muscles.
Muscles contain sensory receptors known as muscle spindles. They provide feedback on the length of muscles and any changes in that length. Your central nervous system uses this information to calculate joint angles and how quickly those angles are shifting.
As a result feedback from muscle spindles is critical to your awareness of where your body is situated in space.
Here’s the crucial point, disuse, overuse, injury and inflammation can impact the signalling capabilities of muscle spindles.
If your brain no longer has an accurate picture of an area, it may choose to use an alternative strategy to move you. This has been demonstrated in patients with back pain for example.
Studies have also shown that when there’s a mismatch between what your brain expects to happen and what is actually happening, it can trigger a pain response.
Why this body view can help reduce pain and muscle tightness
Think back to our goal of using first principles thinking to establish the root cause of unpleasant sensations like pain and muscle tightness.
If we conceptualise our bodies as the complex systems they are, we can move beyond the surface level thinking that leads to interventions like stretching and manipulation.
Often these methods view issues like pain and increased muscle tension as local problems that can be solved by applying direct pressure to the body.
Whilst in some cases this might provide temporary relief, it rarely leads to a lasting solution.
If we begin to look deeper at what’s actually going on, it becomes obvious why.
You’re not a mechanical device that needs pulling and pushing to function at its best. Nothing is stuck and that tightness is not a mistake.
You’re a highly complex and intelligent system that makes decisions based on the information it’s receiving. Change requires new inputs to update its internal model and reduce the level of threat it perceives.
Summary
Thinking about your body from a first principles perspective offers valuable insights if you’re caught in a cycle of pain and injury.
It may help explain why what you’ve tried so far hasn’t worked and lead you to more effective solutions.
You wouldn’t take a hammer to a malfunctioning laptop would you? Why would you expect a similar approach to work with your body?