We all experience pain as we meet the challenges in our life. It may be physical, mental or emotional. The question is, do we really learn from it?
The human body is beautiful and complex. The most complex machines in the world are making millions of decisions a second yet this pales into insignificance when compared to all the systems that keep you being you. The body is in a constant dance with its environment, making every decision to adapt and thrive wherever it may be.
When previously working as a chiropractor I was most concerned with the alignment of the spine as this, both supports the body, but most importantly protects the spinal cord. Every client that walks through the door is suffering from a primary misalignment that has lead to a multitude of compensations throughout the body. Most people walk around like this asymptomatic for years until one of these compensations finally takes its toll. It is in this moment that the body starts to let you know something is wrong, and it does this through pain. As a holistic spinal specialist I now include all the physical, mental, emotional and chemical factors that cause this pain.
Pain is not pleasant and can have a number of different characteristics – pain can be dull, it can ache, it can even be held in your heart, sometimes it’s sharp, and will eventually get to a point where it no longer lets you ignore it. Pain has one job, to bring your attention to an area of dysfunction and it does this better than anything else.
The first problem with pain is that it doesn’t always attract you to the area of most dysfunction but to the area of most damage. Many times this is compensation for the original problem. I often see confused looks from clients as I explain the mechanism for their injury and the reality that the pain is sometimes far removed from the true underlying dysfunction. If you think of a cars front wheels being out of alignment it will cause uneven wear on the tires. You can change those tires as much as you like but they will keep breaking down, the key is to get the wheels in alignment. Physically this would be like having knee pain because the arch of your foot has collapsed, you can wear a knee brace and even have multiple knee operations but it will only give temporary relief unless the underlying problem is fixed. Emotionally it would be like moving from dysfunctional relationship to dysfunctional relationship without looking at the underlying attachment patterns you have gained from early childhood.
The second issue with pain is that it is unpleasant and as with anything unpleasant in a person’s life often the prime drive is just to get rid of it. For lots of people this means reaching for pain killers or antidepressants. In some cases this is completely the right thing to do as the symptom may have become so unbearable that it is taking away a person’s ability to exist in any way they would define as meaningful, but before dulling the pain listen to its message. Try to make the changes it is so kindly showing you to make. This is always going to involve removing the stresses that are overloading your system. They can be physical, mental/emotional or chemical and the first stage is gaining this awareness. The next is making the positive lifestyle changes to remove this stress, and sometimes this may involve getting help.
The problem with pain is that it’s not always clear what it’s telling you and it can frighten you into running away, but if you really listen, there is always something profound to be learnt from it and amazing changes can happen when taking its advice.