It’s Really Not A Mystery

Since I began practicing physical therapy, the patients who naturally gravitated to my practice have been people with mysterious, persistent pain. This includes people who:

• Have a lot of pain, but no significant findings on an MRI or X-Ray.

• Had an injury that healed, but they still have a lot of pain.

• Have pain that keeps coming back every time they get stressed, try to increase their activity, or go back to work.

• Have autoimmune conditions that make their whole bodies hurt.

• Are burned out and exhausted and have pain that seems random because they can’t identify a clear cause or trigger.

I used the word mysterious because most of the people who come to see me don’t understand why they are in pain, and their doctors often don’t understand either, but I don’t think it is a mystery at all. Pain is not just the result of injury. Pain is an alert from the body warning of potential danger. 

What part of the body is responsible for responding to danger? 

The sympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic nervous system is the fight, flight, freeze, fawn part of the nervous system. When it is activated, it mobilizes the resources in our bodies so we are ready to defend ourselves. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, energy is shunted away from inessential functions like digestion and reproduction, and to the periphery of the body so we have the energy we need to kick, hit, run, or yell in self-defense. This is why pain messes up our digestion, hormones, reproductive cycles, sleep, and concentration. It is also why it is so hard to ignore.

When someone has an acute injury, like a broken bone or an ankle sprain, we obviously want to support the tissue so that it can heal. But we don’t just need to treat the injury, we also have to heal the nervous system. This is especially true in mysterious cases, because there often isn’t any injury to treat.

Here is where I come in. The nervous system needs a few things in order to heal:

• Space

• Blood flow and oxygen

• Movement

• Rest

• Nourishment

• Trust

• Support

• A healthy internal and external environment

I am trained as a physical therapist, but my practice is so much more than physical therapy. When you go to most PT clinics, the PT will test your range of motion and strength, give you some exercises for the body part that hurts, maybe do a little manual therapy, and send you on your way. This is a mechanical approach to treatment, and it works in acute cases, but it doesn’t work very well in persistent and mysterious cases.

My approach addresses the context and the root causes, not just the body part. This is especially helpful if your pain isn’t isolated to one body part, or falls into the “mysterious” category. 

Together, we will learn how to decode the signals your body is sending and get curious as to why your body is sounding the pain alarm. 

We’ll do our best to create internal and external environments that support healing, and to give your nervous system what it needs in order to heal.

I will also help you understand pain because if we can reduce the fear around the pain, it will help the nervous system relax and actually decrease the pain. 

We’ll use a combination of therapeutic yoga, energy healing, craniosacral therapy, Ayurvedic medicine, pain science, and physical therapy to help your nervous system to heal and to treat the mind, body, and spirit holistically.

Pain is a GOOD THING. We want our bodies to tell us when there is danger. We also want our nervous system to trust that we will listen when it talks to us. If you have persistent or mysterious pain and you want to move beyond a physical, mechanical approach to treatment, register for a Path to Wellness Package. Let's work together to help your nervous system heal.

Questions? Please reach out. I’m happy to chat about what you need and whether my approach would be a good fit for you.