BPS stands for BIOPHSYCOSOCIAL.
Have you heard this term before?
BPS is a different - new to modern western medicine and also to many of us - model for addressing illness. While BPS model can and have been used in many branches of medicine, my particular interest is in how we can use this approach to successfully manage and hopefully resolve chronic musculoskeletal pain.
I know I just said (well, wrote!) a bunch of medical terms there.
Please don't let that scare you away!
I'll do my absolute best to keep the terminology simple and the post as easy to read as possible - after all, my goal here is not to give you an in-depth perspective of what BPS model is, but to offer an alternative to the belief system that currently dominates western medicine and, more specifically, governs our approach to treating chronic musculoskeletal pain.
Let's maybe start with definitions:
Chronic musculoskeletal pain is an ongoing pain felt in the bones, joints and tissues of the body that persists longer than 3 months or recurs sporadically.
The current and dominant model in medicine today is called the biomedical model. This model reduces illness to a constellation of changes in the tissues and then attempts to treat the symptoms of these changes without taking into consideration the PERSON experiencing these symptoms.
The crippling flaw of this model is that it DOES NOT INCLUDE the patient and their attributes - beliefs, interactions, relationships, family situation, emotional state, stress load - as a person, as a human being.
Think about that day at work where you walked into the office and instantly felt your back stiffen.
The time in your life when you felt particularly stressed and overwhelmed, and suddenly the shoulder pain you've long forgotten has come back, and full force.
Think about about that time during your vacation when you felt invincible, like you can accomplish anything, only to find all the usual hurts return the moment you got back to "reality."
Do you believe that spot treating the stiff back, the sore shoulder and all other familiar hurts can resolve the issue for good?
Has it yet?
Biopsychosocial approach to chronic pain is a very different beast.
It recognizes that changes in the tissues can be a contributing factor to chronic pain ( that's the BIO part), but it also acknowledges that the state of our minds (PSYCHO), and our relationships and interactions (SOCIAL) all play a profound role in what and how we experience.
When I was unwell, all I wanted was a simple explanation as to why I was hurting, and a one-point solution to whatever was ailing me at the time...
Take this prescription.
Massage out that muscle.
Stick a needle into this trigger point.
Fix how this joint moves...
You name it, I've tried it all, sometimes for years on end...
Over all those years - sometimes consciously, but more often not - I've arrived to the same conclusion, again, and again, and again.
There is NO system in the human body that functions in isolation.
Digestive, nervous, cardio-vascular, musculoskeletal systems have all emerged from the same single cell. Anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure, and digestive troubles that come with persistent pain are not separate issues.
We need a treatment model that recognizes that. Welcome to BPS!
