It is a known fact that each person reacts differently to stressful situations. Depending on how your body and mind deal with stress can impact your tolerance to pain and influence the type of pain you endure.

For example, tolerance to prolonged pain, otherwise known as chronic pain, can be made manageable with regular pain medication. However, while mainstream medication can sometimes seem like the only way to manage and tolerate chronic pain, the dangers of long term use of NSAIDs (the likes of Ibuprofen and Nurofen), paracetamol and worse still, opiates (co-codamol) have long been known. But in the absence of any viable alternative other than long waits for physiotherapy appointments, sufferers of chronic pain have had little choice than to rely on these drugs.

No matter of your tolerance level to pain or the type of medication you take, any level of stress causes us to tighten our muscles. This is because humans, like any species, have self-protective methods to help us survive. The stress response is an emergency response, which activates what is known as Fight Flight Freeze mode (FFF), to mobilise our brain and body to fight an enemy, run from an avalanche or hide from a mugger.

In the jungle, once the emergency is over, the animal goes back to norm. But the same cannot be said for humans. Our modern existence is constantly keeping us in the state of high alert. Even when we are safely away from the said mugger, we are still in the state of high alertness because we take every opportunity to tell everyone who listens to our near-miss. This constant state of high stress can ultimately lead to physical pain, anxiety, insomnia and so on.

Back pain is one of the most common chronic illnesses and a Berkshire based Pain & Stress Therapist Diksha Chakravarti suggests assessing the following:

Gait & Posture

Often influenced by childhood self-image e.g. self-consciousness. For example, girls who have a growth spurt and end up being taller than their peers will often lean forward to appear shorter; the same applies to those with larger busts. Sometimes fashion can cause poor posture too. For example, an 18 year-old complaining of back pain, which has been caused by wearing his trousers too low. Essentially to prevent them from sliding off he has to walk with his hips tilting forward, which has locked his back up.

Lifestyle

You don’t have to be a workaholic to spend a considerable amount of time in front of the computer, sometimes staying in one (uncomfortable) fixed position for extended periods.

Exercise

Sometimes people over-exercise due to poor self-image (body dysmorphia) or incorrect perceptions/guidance.

Stress

SModern life and its challenges bring stress, which can present in strangest of ways. For example, such as grinding your teeth or tensing your jaw, sleeplessness or failure to go back to sleep in the middle of the night.

Emotional wellbeing

All of the above points can lead to or be caused by emotional imbalances.

You need to become your own posture police” Diksha suggests. “Ask your friends and family to observe your posture and point out anything that looks unbalanced. Perhaps the way you lift or carry heavy bags, or while standing still you are putting too much weight on one of your hips. Being conscious of your posture, lifestyle and stress levels could save you hundreds of pounds in physiotherapy

Diksha’s advice is that pain and stress are not only connected but intertwined in every possible way. You simply cannot treat one without addressing the other.

Looking at pain and stress as a whole is how the healing services offered by FiXme Ltd differ from other holistic therapy providers in the area. Depending on your specific needs, the bespoke treatment programme includes a mixture of Mindfulness practice, physical therapy and clinical hypnotherapy in varying combinations.

So if you are a chronic pain sufferer and have been taking pain medication for a prolonged period, then you might want to consider holistic therapies to help get to the core of your pain symptoms. 

Author: Diksha Chakravarti, Pain & Stress Therapist

www.fixme.org.uk | diksha@fixme.org.uk | 0787 814 8229