My greatest pleasure in chiropractic is seeing people get their life back after years of chronic pain. It’s not uncommon to see people in the practice that have had 10+ years of pain, often chronic debilitating pain that interferes with their daily life and stops them being able to do all the things they love, like playing with the grandchildren or doing sports. If this is you, I don’t want you to give up hope. I’ve seen many people over the years recover from pain and reclaim their health. Taking a global holistic approach is the key.
We all know the body is self-healing and self-regulating, so why does it get stuck in a vicious cycle of pain and injury? Once we understand a few basic principles, we can see why back pain or neck pain can be so persistent, and more importantly, how to approach it.
1) The issue is not in the tissue, it’s in the nervous system
Most people in chronic pain actually have no physical damage at all. That’s why x-rays and MRI’s usually come up blank.So if the structure is fine, why the pain? The answer is in the way the body is functioning. How your joints and spine move, how your muscles activate and the tightness of the muscles is all dictated by the signals in the nervous system. If the bones and muscles represent the ‘hardware’ of the body, the nervous system is analogous to the ‘software’.
If your nervous system can’t coordinate your body very well, the body functions less optimally. Many therapies work by treating the tissues, like the joints and muscles, but this misses the bigger picture of how the nervous system is regulating the muscles and joints. Again, this requires a global holistic approach to understand the bigger picture.
2) Symptoms from chronic pain don’t always give an accurate picture
When we get an injury, we experience pain locally in that area. Normally after a few weeks, the injury heals and the pain goes away. In chronic pain, the pain persists. This is usually because the original injury results in a change to how the area is functioning, even though the injury has healed. The original ‘hardware’ injury has now resulted in a ‘software’ issue, affecting the control of the body. This can be precisely and accurately assessed in the clinic by how the joints are moving, how the muscles are activating, and how tension patterns develop in the muscles. Even the posture can change over time, resulting in things like one shoulder higher than the other, or one hip higher than the other, or changes to the curvatures in the spine.
3) The body compensates more and more over time
Following on from the changes described above, the loss of function in the joints and muscles perpetuates, resulting in the body compensating. Unfortunately, this only results in a vicious cycle of more and more compensation, causing other areas to tighten. Over time, we can end up with multiple areas in the body that develop symptoms. For instance, it may have started with back pain, but other the years the neck can tighten, the shoulders restrict, and the pelvic muscles tighten. At this point it can be hard to see the wood from the trees- what is the primary issue, what is a compensation, and what should be treated and in what order.
The Solution? Seeing the wood from the trees
So how do we get to the root of the problem? Accurately measuring and testing the body as a whole. It’s all about precision! If you don’t test for it, you won’t find it. Our technique assessment goes through a precise protocol in order to measure everything that is happening. A truly global holistic approach. Where are the restrictions, what muscles aren’t activating, and what postural pattern is the body locked into? (see our blog on posture here). Although symptoms are related to the restriction, they are not an accurate guide as to where to start, what is causing the primary patterns, and why secondary patterns are developing. For instance, shoulder pain being caused by neck restriction, back pain being caused by a restricted knee or ankle, or headaches due to neck tightness. Thishttps://innatehealthchiro.co.uk/2022/09/15/the-importance-of-good-posture/ is why many people won’t respond to treatment that is only directed to the area of pain, because many times the site of pain is from compensatory pattern.
In conclusion
Having a precise step by step protocol of assessing the body as a whole is vital for getting to the root of the problem. When pain has been there for such a long time, it can seem that ‘everything’ is stiff. By assessing the body as a whole and accurately measuring the joints and muscles, we are able to see the wood from the trees- what is actually the problem and where we need to start. Precision is key. This step by step approach unwinds the tension layer by layer and allows the body to start to heal.
You can find out more about our approach in this blog https://innatehealthchiro.co.uk/2021/07/23/what-is-the-neuro-impulse-protocol-nip/
If you want some inspiration, check out this review from our lovely patient Jo:
This treatment from Jake has been truly life changing. As a longtime sufferer of Fibromyalgia who a few months ago landed in A&E with uncontrollable pain levels, the pain was massively reduced and controllable after just two treatments. It was like magic. I have continued to see Jake for ongoing treatment to help my manage my condition, I now rarely take pain killers, I’m not on prescription meds, I feel like my body is rebalancing itself with each treatment. My energy levels have increased, pain levels decreased and the soft, light touch type treatment has been a real eye opener; there is zero bone cracking, the results are immediate and the couple of days it takes personally for my body (with a highly sensitised nervous system) to settle, is minimal and manageable but ultimately, so worth it. The benefits of this treatment are immense and it really does feel like magic. Having had many treatments over many years, from osteopathy, traditional chiropractic ‘bone cracking’, soft tissue massage, remedial massage, shiatsu, acupuncture etc, this is by far something I’ve found to be the most effective and the most pleasant. I cannot recommend Jake highly enough, as a professional practitioner he is engaging, caring and sensitive to the problems he’s presented with. I’m so grateful to have found him! Thank you Jake.