The Link Between Chronic Pain And The Mind Was A Revelation

I decided to see a chiropractor, the only one that was open, as we were still in lockdown, and only a few businesses were open. I was lucky as he had a holistic approach to pain. At this point I was going to him out of desperation. He was a lovely gentleman, and very reassuringly told me that I did not need surgery, and that I have tension in my neck. I was explaining to him that the physiotherapist had told me otherwise. He started to explain to me that a lot of tension is held in my neck. I told him I used to suffer from tension headaches/migraines on weekends when my daughter was born, and he was not surprised.?

Looking back I can see why I had built up chronic stress in my neck. The number of hours I was investing in sitting at work in a senior leadership position as a lawyer, taking in everyone’s emotions, and taking care of their needs, which led to neglecting my own health and wellbeing. I had gone through grief, having lost my father when my daughter was still a baby, and I was facing having to be re-interviewed for my job as it was under threat for redundancy.

I was unfulfilled in my role as I wanted to do more for my team, rather than just follow the usual success measures of KPIs that the company required, and I could see my team needed more. They needed to be heard, and motivated, along with having reduced workloads that were making them feel stressed. I was already an accredited Energy Leadership Coach, and I felt my energy was zapped into the spiral of despair, through grief, and having a lack of self care. What I really noticed was that my values did not align with the good intentions of the company values, and it was triggering me emotionally.

I remembered how I used to rush to drop my daughter off at nursery, the first one there, then to run to catch a train, and arrive at work always 15 minutes late, and even though I worked a half hour lunch to make up the time, this never seemed enough. I was a mother first and foremost, however management saw it as a lack of punctuality. I had been desperately wanting to work from home so that I could accommodate my daughter’s needs, however I never got selected for this position, and I cried so much, it broke my heart. There was no other reason to do it apart from wanting to get that extra time with my daughter, and not rush around, which caused me increased stress. Was I being unreasonable?

I still remember when I returned to work from maternity, how I was told by the manager that I appeared too eager when sharing my concerns about the team. Too eager? She didn’t understand my communication language. I was telling her how there was a divide, and a lack of trust regarding senior management, and that the team was disjointed. I wasn’t looking to change team that she assumed, I needed support, and an action plan. I wanted to clearly communicate this before I embarked on a remarkable 6 month journey that initially dealt with a team that did not trust me, or each other, moaned daily, and were unmotivated, to one that helped each other out, felt heard, worked effectively in that success measures increased, communication was easy and transparent, and everyone genuinely cared about each other’s wellbeing. Giving others within the team roles of responsibility also increased their confidence, and essentially made my role redundant for a large proportion of the work.

Getting back to my chronic pain, the chiropractor pressed on the parts of my body that had pain, and strangely at the time I used to think that it was elsewhere to where my mind was locating it. Also, if he pressed certain pressure points the pain was not there. This was when I started connecting the dots. Having started Dr Sarno’s work, and what he was saying about TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome), or mind/body syndrome, it got me really thinking that the chiropractor had a point. I even started to tell the holistic chiropractor about Dr Sarno, and he was open to learn more about it. He was very supportive of the mind/body approach. He told me none of his patients get recommended surgery, and that they did not need it.

3 takeaways:

1. When talking to a medical professional share any emotional build up/trigger that has taken place in your life even if it’s in the past, or you think it may be irrelevant.
2. Make sure that self care is your top priority, otherwise you will keep feeling persistent pain.
3. Find ways to hep you relax to ease tension in the mind and body

#neuroplasticity #selfcare #education