This is a comment we hear often in the clinic. Sometimes people injure themselves in obvious ways. Or they do something over a long period of time that creates damage in the body.
But sometimes the cause of pain and symptoms isn?t so obvious.
Sometimes it can seem totally random.
Like you just woke up one day in pain.
I can tell you one thing for sure? nothing in the body is ever random.
So what?s going on here?
The problem is that when people say ?I didn?t do anything? what they usually mean is that they didn?t physically do anything. They didn?t lift anything heavy, or have a fall.
Yet this is only one of the major categories of stress that creates pain and dysfunction in our bodies.
Often the stress that sets us up for an injury or a symptom is chemical in nature. Maybe it?s not what we did, maybe it?s what we ate. Or perhaps what we rubbed on our body. Or breathed. Or drank? you get the idea.
Let me give you an example. One common symptom that we see is people who have pain between their shoulder blades, or across the base of their neck and shoulders. Often it?s aggravated by too much desk or computer work, or driving.
Or, these days, too much time looking down at a phone screen.
These common physical factors can certainly set us up for trouble, but there?s something more to consider. In Applied Kinesiology (one of the advanced techniques we use to assess people in the clinic) every muscle is related to a particular organ. When that organ is under stress, that muscle doesn?t function as effectively as it should.
Now the muscles between your shoulder blades, your rhomboids, are associated with your liver.
So if your body is dealing with some kind of toxic stress (which is incredibly common in our society) then you may be set up for experiencing aches and pains between your shoulder blades.
This is a major reason why your symptoms can go up and down? ok one day, good the next, but then bad the next day? even though you didn?t DO anything different!
If you ate something the day before that your body has trouble digesting, or something that fed the ?bad bugs? in your gut, then a whole heap of toxins can be produced in there and all of a sudden your liver has a big clean up job to do.
The end result? a truckload of inflammation! And that usually equals a bad day for whatever symptoms you have going on in your body.
So chemistry plays a huge part in our symptoms and pain levels.
But there?s one other huge factor here, and that is?
STRESS!
Sometimes it?s not what we did or what we ate, it?s what we thought!
It?s no secret that the brain affects the body. But most people don?t realise how powerful this effect can be. With every thought and feeling your body creates a whole new set of chemistry.
If that seems a bit hard to wrap your head around, just imagine biting into a big juicy lemon. Really imagine it.
Feeling a little saliva production?
Your body just created a physical reaction to a thought in your mind. This is going on all day long, and it can be another major factor in the ?I didn?t do anything, it just started hurting? scenario.
Any assessment of your health or symptoms that doesn?t take your mind and your biochemistry into account is simply incomplete. This is a major reason why people have symptoms that don?t go away, despite good treatments. Or why symptoms keep coming back again.
Once you identify the REAL underlying causes, lasting changes can usually be made.
