Pain: The Body's Check Engine Light

I was speaking with one of my clients this week about the amount of pain he feels regularly and how he tries to just deal with it. I wonder how many of us do that when we feel pain? Do we gain something from knowing that we can get through a certain amount of it? Is it a great point of conversation to relate to others? Is it real? Why is it there? Why is there so much fear around it? I think it is time for a different perspective and conversation about pain.

First of all, what is pain, really? Physiologically speaking, it is a combination of a slow electrical sensory nerve impulse combined with a chemical release that the brain interprets as "pain." In layman's terms it is an electrical warning system. Not so scary, is it? We quickly learn things that we need to protect ourselves from and it slowly develops into what we perceive as pain. What if it is a warning from our body, just like the check engine light in our car? How much fear comes into to you when that little light comes on? "OMG, what's wrong now? This is gonna cost me ton! I don't have time for this!" Usually this is really just a warning that needs a little attention and is not a big deal. Is it possible to be more aware of the other "warnings" in our body, before it has to get to pain? In most cases with my clients, they come to me with some sort of pain response that has them a little freaked out and we find it is some small mis-alignment in the tissue or movement that the body is saying "hey! look at me, some attention is needed here." Within a short amount of time, awareness is created and the pain is magically gone. And believe me, it is magic. 

There is a little more to it than that though. You have to be willing to make the change so the signal stops. Ask yourself what value are you getting form your pain. This is a major step in really letting it go. I worked with a gentleman for two years and his pain did not get better until his settlement came in. Interesting, right? Have you held on to pain for any other reasons? Has it been an easy excuse for you to get out of making the changes you think you want? Or maybe you are just used to it and it is part of you. What ever the reason, it can be changed if you are willing to really look at the warning and stop trying to ignore it. Sometimes action is required to make change and body/energy work could be what you need.

---