When people want help with a problem (like pain) they most often want to know
- What’s wrong
- How to fix it
- How long it will take
My last few Instagram posts were shoulder movements that you might have found helpful. So, if you came to me asking for help in regards to shoulder or perhaps neck pain, would I choose to have you do them as the thing for you?
Maybe. Maybe not. It depends.
You see, the thing for you is likely not to be the thing that helped me or someone else for that matter.
Which is why looking to find the thing or the fix for chronic pain often leads to frustration. Or further along the line, a sense of hopelessness.
There are variables between you and I not only in our physical structure, but also other areas that affect what we might feel or experience in any moment, on any given day. Particularly when it comes to pain.
And most often, it’s usually not just one thing.
Over the last couple of months, I offered up some movements specific to feet, hips and shoulders that you might have found useful. Whether you’re seeking greater mobility, ease, gaining more awareness or perhaps you’re trying to overcome some issues with regards to chronic or persistent pain that you experience. It can take some time to make progress, or it can actually be rather quick in learning what does, or does not provide relief for you or at least the ability to move with more ease.
I find it most hopeful to know there many things we can try along the way.
And no, it’s not just cherry-picking, or somehow blindly choosing, either. What’s been learned over the years in regards to pain is quite different from our understanding of the past in terms of causation and most important, what might be effective treatments.
It’s now understood that long-term pain is poorly correlated to tissue health and science shows us that it is both complex and often has a multitude of factors. We do feel pain IN our body. However, it is often a nervous system issue… which often increases our sensitivity to pain. We can affect our nervous system. We can affect change. We can affect our physiology. Which is what makes this a hopeful message.
For the most part, any movement you add into your day and into your life will be of benefit. What’s key while moving is for you to build awareness of what works and what doesn’t for you. What feels right and what doesn’t, for you.
If you learn to pay attention to even the most subtle of sensations, you’ll begin to notice and learn all kinds of things about your body and your self which will lead to the other things, that often play a part in your unique experience of pain.
So it’s not just one thing. Or the thing. Or your thing. Or my thing.
What are the other things, that might be contributing to your experience of pain? More to come…