Category: Migraine

The Roots of Chronic Pain

New research shows direct hormonal links between childhood trauma and adulthood disease:

There are two pieces of information that really provide the bridge to understand the connection between emotional trauma and adult disease, and the HPA axis is one of those pieces. The other is epigenetics. It starts with the hypothalamus in the brain, so that when we perceive any kind of threat to ourselves through the senses, through eyes or ears or nose or touch or whatever, that message comes into the brain and hits the hypothalamus. Then hypothalamus sends the message to the pituitary gland, which sits just below it, which in turn sends the message to the adrenal glands, which sit on top of each of the kidneys. This generates the flow of adrenaline and cortisol in the body. Adrenaline and cortisol are the hormones of stress. So there’s a connection between the hypothalamus, the pituitary, which is part of the endocrine system, and the adrenal gland, which is part of the immune system. That means that what happens to us emotionally affects our immune and endocrine functions.

When that happens early in life and chronically, it disregulates that whole system. “Trauma” means that stress is occurring over and over again chronically, so the HPA gets revved up and stays in the red zone. It upsets literally all of our physiology, activating the genetic proclivity we might have for whatever disease, setting the stage for it in the beginning, and oftentimes those systems don’t appear later in our lives until after our reproductive years. There is often a total disconnect between those diseases and its root in early chronic emotional trauma.

This is something I’ve suspected for years. I’ve noticed a strong correlation between my clients with chronic pain conditions–fibromyalgia, migraines, PTSD, anxiety, and vague neurological disorders such as primary lateral sclerosis(PLS)–and explicit or implicit childhood trauma. Often these clients have been further abused at the hands of a Western medical system which dismisses their pain and disability as ‘psychosomatic’ because doctors cannot pinpoint a specific cause.

As the linked article goes on to discuss, it is much harder to reverse this process than to prevent it. But that doesn’t mean there’s no way of addressing it in adulthood. The nervous system is plastic; if it is possible to mess it up through repeated stress, it is also possible to re-wire it. Bodywork is an excellent place to start. Massage therapy, craniosacral therapy, andnetwork spinal analysis all work directly and gently upon the nervous system to stimulate release of trauma and deep relaxation.

This is not a rapid process. Generally speaking, the more deeply rooted the trauma, the longer it takes to unwind. Our ‘silver bullet’ medical system tends to want to treat everything with surgery or a pill; nobody likes to hear that chronic conditions are, well, chronic. On the other hand, spending an hour or four a month on a massage table is a lot more enjoyable than pills or surgery. Isn’t that a piece of good news?

When to See a Doctor

Know your anatomy!You wouldn’t think people would ever get their massage therapist confused with their M.D., would you? You’d be surprised.It’s touching and flattering, how often I am asked for my input on potentially serious medical conditions. Possibly this is due to the fact that 1) I see a lot of people in varying degrees of pain, uncertainty and confusion, 2) I ask probing questions, 3) listen to the answers, and 4) read continually. Finding news of effective treatments for the conditions that plague my clients is one of my joys. I learn as much from them as they learn from me.

However, it ought to be staggeringly obvious that I am not a doctor. Massage and bodywork can be excellentsupplemental treatments for all manner of ills, but they should never be a substitute for comprehensive medical attention. When you have a diagnosis, I’m happy to tailor your session to support your treatment plan, but I know my limits. Here are some of the symptoms that will cause me to refer you for a check-up before I’ll see you again.

  • You have areas of unexplained hypersensitivity, or severe numbness. Since I work on a lot of people, I’m familiar with the range of pain sensitivities in healthy people. If you’re flinching when I touch you lightly in a place that shouldn’t hurt, if you have no feeling in a major limb, or if you insist that I ‘go harder’ when I’m working deeply in an area which should be sensitive, I want you thoroughly checked by a neurologist.
  • You have severe constipation over a long period of time. I once had a client who wanted two-and-a-half hour sessions to address her chronic constipation, but who categorically refused to see a doctor about it. “What could a doctor do?” she asked me, seemingly rhetorically. “Check you for diverticular disease and colorectal cancer,” was my response. It would be irresponsible of me to continue treatment until these possibilities have been ruled out.
  • You have unexplained swelling or bloating in your extremities. “It will go away on its own,” is often what my clients report hearing from their doctors. But if the swelling has no obvious cause, I think you should be tested forheart, liver or kidney problems.
  • You have a suspicious-looking mole on your back. One minor service I provide for my clients is keeping an eye on areas of the body that they don’t normally see. Most people know to visit a dermatologist if they have anirregular mole that changes appearance; if you’ve got one on your back, I always ask if you’ve had it looked at.
  • You suddenly start having migraines. Many of my clients have suffered from migraines for years; they find that regular massage can reduce the frequency and severity of their episodes. But if you’ve never had a migraine before, you should see a doctor before getting a massage.

A doctor’s job is often to do triage in an emergency; my job, as I see it, is not to ‘fix’ a problem, but to facilitate healing over the long term. Massage is less like a drug and more like a tonic–it stimulates the immune system, the parasympathetic nervous system, the endocrine system and the musculoskeletal system to balance and repair themselves. The subtle connections among seemingly disparate systems and processes fascinate me. My clients never have to worry that they’ll bore me, telling me their aches, pains, worries, triumphs, or last night’s bizarre dream. But they also know that they can count on me for the occasional blast of common sense.