Introduction

The last thing we want when we are in pain is to be in touch with our body. Yet as a result of learning to dissociate from pain, we ignore the causes and actually become further trapped into the pain cycle. In Western culture we are taught implicitly that only those with special training can "heal" us. In extreme cases, where surgery is required, this may be true; but the ability to understand how our body works and to have a deliberate positive effect on how our body feels is not magically given to those with medical degrees. In fact, if you take the time and courage to truly be present with your body you can become the foremost expert on how to help yourself.

This blog will include my personal narrative of: a 25 year history with acute and chronic back pain; my diagnosis and treatment of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, PTSD, and other chronic illnesses; and the emotional and logistical journey of learning to live a full and fulfilling life with disability. It will also be the distillation of 25 years experience in seeking pain relief and medical understanding, first as a patient, then as a student of muscular therapy, and finally as an empowered member of my own health care team. Finally, I will interview guests who live with other chronic conditions, who can offer insight into their experiences and what strategies have worked best for them.

Using the Force

Our body works primarily with two kinds of internal forces: mechanical and chemical.You have been learning the mechanics of your body since you first spastically threw your limbs around as an infant. The nervous system transforms mechanical force or energy into sensation processed by chemicals in the brain. In turn, the brain sends chemical signals to motor neurons that attach to muscles in the body. The muscles convert these chemical reactions into mechanical force, contracting the muscle cells to pull on a structure (usually a bone) via a tendon. This causes movement.

The world impacts our body with mechanical force also. When we walk, our foot hits a surface, and that force is transferred up through our body. When the body is strong, the joints are correctly aligned, and the muscles are free from residual tension, the force is transferred through our walking back into the ground, with gravity's assistance. Anywhere that a structure is weak, scarred, or out of alignment will cause the transfer of force to stop at, and possibly injure, the compromised structure. Injury to a structure then triggers a chemical reaction that your brain translates into the sensation of pain.

Pain is an important adaptation in that it tells us when we are in danger of injury and encourages us to remove ourself from that risk. Acute pain, like touching a hot stove burner, in fact bypasses the brain altogether and triggers a reflex reaction in the peripheral nervous system, causing you to draw your hand away immediately. In fact, the inability to perceive pain can lead to serious injury, infection, and advanced disease, as the warning signs that the body is sending all go unheeded. For this reason, pain can in fact be a good friend, the one who tells us the truth that there is something wrong, even when we don't want to hear it. How soon we listen may help determine how easily we recover.

At the same time, it is equally important that we acknowledge and treat pain as a condition in its own right, and not just a byproduct of an underlying cause. While acute pain sensations related to illness or injury are natural and useful, over an extended period of time it becomes chronic pain.Chronic pain is physiologically distinct from "normal" acute pain, and is a disease that can cause depression and many other somatic illnesses if not well treated and managed. Millions of people learn to live with chronic pain, and for millions more chronic pain is so disabling that it limits our ability to function on some of the most basic levels.

We will discuss the physiology of pain, as well as traditional and complementary medical treatments in future posts. But at the most basic level, we are lone individuals in the world, responsible for our own well being. Toughing it out is doing ourselves harm. So, what's a gimp to do?

Learn everything you can about how your specific body works.

When you are in chronic pain or any type of chronic illness, there is a danger to dismiss anything that is not severe. But how much quality of life can we gain by managing the host of small not severe symptoms? They do add up. And when the largest symptoms or conditions seem most unmanageable it is that much more important to empower yourself with the ability to control some aspect of the way you feel.

The easiest thing you can learn to master for your own body is its mechanics. Yes there are 206 bones in the adult body, and hundreds of muscles, but you don't need to memorize them all in order to become an expert in you. All you really need to know are the principle muscle groups, and some basic physics. Once you know what muscles in various areas of the body do, you can learn to stretch any of them by doing the opposite. For each and every muscle contraction, there is an equal and opposite stretching mechanism. (Significant time will be spent in future posts on the proper mechanics of stretching, and specific stretches for target areas.) To a large extent, your body will do what you ask of it; the ways that you move it will be the ways that it adapts to moving, and your interactions with the physical world will reinforce your posture, strength, and resilience, for better or for worse.

So, how do we take this knowledge and learn to apply it to getting ourselves out of pain? Just as in the realm of the psyche, learning to detach from our painful habits, comes down to mindfulness. The more you can be aware of your body's movements and sensations, the better you will be able to master them.

1. Notice what you were doing when you started to hurt. Not just "I was lifting a stereo," but instead "I bent over from my waist and lifted the stereo up over my head while turning my body." The sooner after the painful incident that you can rewind your mind, the more details you can get, and the better you will be able to help yourself, and advocate for yourself with your healthcare team.

2. Look at yourself standing, naturally in a mirror. Do not try to put on a fake posture that you don't regularly use. Where do you see imbalances? Is one shoulder higher than the other? Is one knee bent more? Think about what muscles are being compressed and what muscles are being overstretched. What movemonts and adjustments would you need to make to bring yourself more into balance? Once you make these adjustments, how do you feel?

3. Notice yourself sitting, just as you normally would where and however you sit most frequently. Are you feet on the floor? Is one leg turned out? Are you hunched forward or pressed back in the chair? Is your neck straight over your back? Is the shoulder where you use your mouse hand raised higher than the other? If you text, what fingers, thumbs do you use? Do you hurt near the elbows where the muscles that control your fingers attach?

Even when we cannot control the source of pain, we can control whether or not we make it worse by paying careful attention to how we move and the way our body interacts with the other structures in the world. Every person in the world wants to be heard. Every cell in your body is no different. They make up the community that is the organism of you. By being present with your pain you can hear the messages your body is sending you, and immediately start the healing process of letting your physical pain go, and replacing your feelings of anguish and despair with relief and empowerment.