Dooley Noted: 11/14/15
If you’ve been in pain, you understand its impact on human movement.
If you’ve seen yourself out of pain, it’s not a place to which you’d return willingly.
This is no different with patients that seek my help.
They have convinced their movement not to enter certain ranges, out of fear that pain might return.
And to many people, pain is equal to the creation of structural damage.
But it’s just not true.
You can have an array of radiographic structural findings – yet have no pain at all.
You might have significant pain – yet have no significant radiographic findings nor structural damage.
Pain is simply a perceived threat.
So, I help patients understand the movement is not threatening.
A patient recently stated something I’d like to put up in neon in my office.
“I don’t let myself go into that position because I fear it will hurt.”
It took us several minutes, but I helped build a trust tree with him to understand why the pain appears.
If he supports the movement with adequate stability and proper movement patterning, then the perceived threat starts to vanish.
He was amazed at how controlling his breath and altering his position by simple millimeters completely took away his pain.
After a segment of trust-building with proper movement, he said the following:
“My arm hasn’t moved into this position in a decade. I was too scared it would hurt.”
If you help educate about faulty movement patterning, the patient’s perceived threats will diminish with the trust they earn in a healthy technique.
It’s more than a pop and a rub from their friend, Dooley, the chiropractor.
It’s about trust and authentic human movement.
You can fear the potential pain.
Or you can learn that pain only exists in one place: the mind. And if you build trust with technique, the mind can change.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley
