The Gate Control Theory of Pain determines which signals (pain or sensory) reach the brain. As an athlete, you want as much muscle sensory information as possible to reach your athletic brain. But as every athlete knows…
“I am inevitable.”
-Pain
When you use your muscles, information in the form of pain (muscle fatigue) or sensory input (muscle movement) must travel up the spinal cord to the brain for processing. This either/or process helps determine whether to continue pushing forward with muscle use (good pain) or to decrease muscle use due to bad pain.
This system relies on various types of nerve fibers:
Large-diameter fibers carry non-pain (sensory) information through the spinal cord's gate control to the brain.
Small-diameter fibers also carry pain signals through the same gate control in the spinal cord up to the brain.
A-alpha primary action fiber A-beta secondary action fiber A-delta pain fiber C pain fiber
And here’s the bad news/good news: only one type of information can pass through the gate at a time.
Bad News:
When the pain gate is open (and the sensory gate is closed) all the pain information passes through the thalamus into the Analytical Brain thus resulting in - bad pain.
Bad Pain:
The “bad pain” information triggers the use of your analytical brain, which also triggers the negative side of your emotional brain that results in bad thoughts - bad emotions - bad pain - bad performance.
Good News:
When the sensory gate is open (and the pain gate is closed), all sensory information passes through the brainstem into the Athletic Brain, resulting in good pain.
Good Pain:
When sensory information remains the priority… the sensory gate allows muscle use, muscle efficiency, and muscle memory to do their jobs properly, with proper access and communication to and from the brain.
Good emotions from the positive side of your Emotional Brain help keep the pain gates closed, using the six flow-related hormones (dopamine, endorphins, anandamide, adrenaline, serotonin, and oxytocin-GLA), which keep you “in the zone” as your brain continues to ignore the perception of pain.
Here is how the flow state impacts your muscle output and athletic performance:
The analytical brain goes away, allowing the nervous system within your Athletic brain to take over with pattern fluidity (and less energy wasted on useless thoughts and negative emotions)
I feel strong when I feel strong, which allows athletes to push past evolutionary limitations to become more human.
The athletic brain becomes highly efficient at signaling the muscle to contract with greater force.