Some Physical Pains May Be in Our Heads

by Heather Ford-Helgeson
August 5th, 2011

We have all heard someone say something along the lines of, “Oh, I love to garden (or insert whatever hobby or sport here) but I can’t do it anymore because of my back (or knee, or ankle, etc).” I’ve said it in the past myself.  I had back troubles starting at 16.  In my mid-twenties it was especially bad as every couple of weeks my back would “go out” and I would spend most of my time laying in agony and if I had to leave my bed, I'd have to crawl.  Chiropractors didn't help, a back specialist didn't help, what finally helped was exercise. I lost 25 pounds, got down to 23% body-fat and my back episodes came fewer and farther between and I accredited it to strengthening my stomach and other muscles. However, a spot in my back remained sensitive to the touch, started to get bad again and then I started having pains in my neck and shoulders.  Any specialist or doctor I’d see, they would tell me I had a slipped disc.  This year I’d had it and had an MRI and there was nothing. Nothing!  So finally, after two years of my husband pushing me to, I read a book.

The book is, Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection by John Sarno.  Using numerous examples, Sarno illustrates how our bodies, and backs in particular, are designed to handle an immense amount of physical toll but we are not so great at handling stress and worry.  He believes those things are causing our back problems, and a lot of other physical pains, more than anything else.  Take, for instance, stomach ulcers, something that use to plague a lot of people but as medications and surgical procedures fixed them, they became rare.  Suddenly, back pain, digestive issues, and conditions like fibromyalgia took the forefront. Sarno believes that the body will find a physical out for mental issues and if one physical malady is medically cured but the underlying mental issue that started the pain is not resolved, the mind will find another part of the body for the pain.  It's an interesting perspective and I’ve decided to take it as my own.

I think exercise helped me a lot in the beginning in part because of the strength I gained, especially in my stomach muscles, but it also helped me mentally as a release. However, the mind is tricky and since I wasn't dealing with the things in my life that were troubling me, eventually the exercise ceased to do the trick and my brain found it's outage again by causing more pain.  In reading this book, I am learning to tell when I'm suppressing something and having a physical reaction to it. When my shoulders start to tighten or that spot in my lower back starts to hurt, I tell myself over and over again, there's no reason for the pain, it's mental and my stresses don't belong in my body and with enough concentration, this usually works.

Pain is important, it helps us know when something is wrong and when we have it on a regular basis, it is prudent to get help to find out where the pain is coming from.  However, if there is no physical malady, our mind is the next best place to look.  Perhaps we cannot completely fix how we handle the emotional parts of life, but in being aware of where we store our stress and sadness, that in its self can be the beginning of then end to chronic pain.