people ask me a lot of questions about vocal pain for example katarina when i
feel pain when talking should i stop talking does it mean that i'm harming my voice what
is really going on in my throat when i feel pain well in this video i'm going to answer
these questions and dispel some myths about chronic vocal pain so stay tuned
hi i'm katrina speech language pathologist and here on this channel i share practical
tips about using your voice in a healthy way so if this is a topic that interests
you consider subscribing to this channel and hitting that bell notification icon
so that you don't miss any of my future videos i work with people who experience vocal strain
tension and pain in their voice when talking and i know that persistent pain is scary and frustrating
a lack of understanding of chronic pain is also confusing and leaves people either paralyzed
because they are afraid to use their voice or it keeps them wondering what they are really supposed
to do to get rid of it so let me share some important pain facts to give you a peace of mind
our understanding of pain has changed in the last decade or so and scientists now agree that pain
is a sophisticated protective mechanism designed to protect you i always say pain is a good thing
because the purpose of pain is to protect you and your body the problem is that the system is
not perfect the longer pain persists the easier it is for our pain system to become overprotective it
means that the sensation of pain is triggered even when the stimulus should not cause any pain or
it's triggered with a very small amount of dangerous signals if you are dealing with chronic
or persistent focal pain when you use your voice you know that pain becomes a big part of your life
and each time you feel pain you may automatically think this pain is unbearable or i'm never
going to get better or my voice is broken now will you believe me if i tell you that these
automatic negative thoughts are unhelpful because your thoughts and beliefs can make
your pain worse or they can make it better can you believe that let me know in the comments below
the good news is that you are equipped with coping strategies and you can lessen your pain
and you can learn to stop thinking the worst about vocal pain if you feel that pain is dangerous and
uncontrollable it will be challenging to turn off your negative thoughts and start thinking
more optimistically so let me dispel three misconceptions about vocal pain
myth number one vocal pain means tissue damage it's critical to understand that pain is not
proportionate to damage knowing this pain fact can really empower you in what you do next we
know that you can have no pain with a significant injury and you can also feel a lot of pain with
no injury or very small injury for example a paper cut hurts really badly but maybe at some
point in your life you notice the bruise on your body and you didn't even remember how you got it
the fact is that the pain you feel doesn't reflect amount of tissue damage
the pain you feel doesn't reflect amount of tissue damage this is very true for persistent focal pain
or chronic vocal pain so when you use your voice and you feel pain it doesn't mean that you are
tearing muscles or that you are damaging your voice or that vocal folds are in danger no
note i am also not saying that you should now go and talk for hours if you have been dealing
with a vocal issue for some time you need a plan to get your voice back gradually pain is
a construct of your brain your brain will decide if it creates pain or not how does that work your
brain constantly receives signals from receptors in your body including your voice there are a lot
of receptors in your vocal mechanism so your brain receives these the messages and no pain is felt
until the brain interprets this information and decides that the pain may protect you in some way
and if the brain is not sure it will air on the side of caution and create pain anyway the brain
doesn't care if the pain stops you from talking to your friends family colleagues or even your boss
or if it somehow interrupts your daily life it wants to protect you but this fact leads us to
myth number two pain is in your head i am not saying that pain is in your head absolutely not
pain that you are feeling is as real as it gets it's very physical i want to make absolutely clear
that your pain is valid but it is a complex biopsychosocial reaction to what is going on
inside and outside of your body persistent pain is a learned behavior if your brain has been creating
pain for some time to make you safe it has no reason to stop your brain evaluates a massive
amount of information when creating pain including messages from your body previous experiences
cultural and social norms your belief system the context of the situation and much more
this happens very fast and it's not conscious decision it's not something that you decide
or not however we can use our mind to influence the amount of pain we feel anything that provides
your brain with evidence that the body is in danger or needs protecting will turn the pain up
and on the other hand when we provide the brain with evidence of safety we can turn the sensation
of pain down myth number three chronic pain is forever for some people the word chronic means
that the pain will never go away or the pain is going to last forever but the word chronic in
relation to pain simply means that it has lasted for some time and beyond the usual time of healing
therefore some people call chronic pain persistent or ongoing what is interesting is that just this
belief this misconception that chronic pain is forever can make your pain worse this third myth
is a dangerous misconception that can hold you back from finding true vocal freedom
and another interesting thing is that just learning about vocal pain or pain in general
can decrease the amount of pain you feel better understanding of how pain is created in your body
and what you can do to decrease it leads to less pain so what i want to say is don't give up vocal
pain is not a life sentence there are strategies and techniques you can use to lessen the amount
of pain you feel you can develop an action plan to gain your voice back you can learn what vocal
or other activities are best for your voice and how to gain your vocal endurance and stamina back
if you are experiencing vocal strain tension or even pain when speaking and you are ready to work
with me towards a free strong and confident voice you can apply to our vocal freedom
system coaching program check out the links in the description below this video i also made a
video in which i walk you through seven steps that lead to a strong voice without tension if you want
to know what body voice and mind factors you need to consider to finally free your voice click the
link in the description below this video if you found this video helpful click the like button
and share it with your friends check out my other videos right here below i hope to see you soon bye
you