Hidden Connections in the Body

Do you ever stop to think about what your body does each minute to keep you alive and functioning? The countless processes happening simultaneously are nothing short of amazing.

Our bodies allow us to withstand high amounts of stress, trauma and injuries before pain sets in. One could think of their body as an empty cup starting from birth, which in itself may have been traumatic and added a few drops to the cup.  Then there are childhood bumps and falls, bigger accidents, or ongoing emotional trauma. This fills the cup a bit more. Add to that repetitive movements of work or sitting at a desk 40 hours per week, giving birth, or surgical procedures, and the cup fills even more. Finally, it could be the simplest thing, like bending down to tie a shoe, shoveling snow or a single slip on the ice, and our cup has finally overflowed: we are in pain.

Pain is a message which most of us have felt, yet it is unique for each of us. You might feel the pain come and go, or it might be ongoing throughout each day. Pain can feel achy, or you might feel a burning or tingling sensation. Sometimes descriptive words may elude you. You might find you are unable to move in ways that once felt good for you, or that you favor certain positions to relieve the pain.

These are natural responses to pain, which is a message your body is sending to protect you. Usually your body is trying to get you to slow down and get more rest. Sometimes your body just needs you to stop what you’re doing and ask “How are you?” Maybe you need a drink of water, or to sit and rest, or to get up and move. Just simply noticing a painful place, consciously softening your body and breathing into that space like there are tubes going directly from your lungs to that part of your body can be an incredibly powerful pain reliever.

One important thing to remember is that the place you feel pain is not necessarily the root of the problem. You may not have noticed any pain or problems after a car accident a decade ago, but that does not mean it did not affect your body in the form of fascial restrictions. Restrictions in your fascia, your connective tissue that runs in a continuous web from head to toe, can put a pressure of 2000 pounds per square inch on pain sensitive structures in your body. That is like having an elephant sitting on your nerve or your spine! It’s no wonder we eventually feel pain.

Furthermore, fascial restrictions tug on your body the way a snag in a sweater might pull on the rest of it. You could “snag” your shoulder from a childhood fall and that could tug on your pelvis. Over the years, your body starts to compensate for the snag, pulling you into more misalignment. Perhaps your hips are out of balance and have been that way for years. Then, the small movement of bending down to tie your shoe suddenly causes sciatic pain on the left side. With clients, I sometimes find that left sided hip pain actually comes from a rotation of the right side of the pelvis. The right hip rolls forward like a wheel, pulling on your sacrum (the base of your spine). Instead of feeling this on the right, you feel it on the left: the side that is being tugged. Similarly, an abdominal surgery might be felt in your back. We are totally connected, front to back, side to side and head to toe.

The good news is that, no matter how old the injury, there are things you can do to heal yourself without the regular use of opioids or other pain-relieving medications. Myofascial Release Therapy is one approach to working with pain, as are acupuncture, massage therapy and chiropractic care. With myofascial release, the body is treated as a whole rather than parts. If a patient has neck pain, the therapist will likely work on their neck, but will also balance the pelvis. There is a significant relationship too between the pelvis and the jaw. Often, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain is relieved with a balanced pelvis. So are headaches, digestive issues, and many other ailments. Once you start to see your body as a whole, it becomes silly to think of your leg as being separate from your abdomen, or your neck as being separate from your pelvis.

When we remember the connectedness of our bodies and that we ARE our bodies, we naturally start to be more gentle with ourselves. We listen when our body is telling us to rest. Because we know that if we don’t, the message of pain will be coming. Honor yourself by speaking and thinking kind and compassionate words towards your body. It is working hard each and every moment towards your full health and vitality, whether you notice or not.

Ready to get started with Myofascial Release? You can see all my self-paced courses here. Book a virtual appointment here, or if you are local to Vermont you can book an in-person session here.