This Common Mistake Is Keeping You Stuck In Pain

A lot of people are making this super common mistake and it's keeping them stuck in pain or injury.

We've become conditioned to think of our bodies like a car engine - if one part goes wrong you get a diagnostic check done and fix or replace the faulty component.

If you feel a muscle is tight you look for a stretch or book a massage to release that muscle. If you pick up an injury you see a doctor or physiotherapist for a scan or diagnosis. 

But you, a human being, are NOT made of simple, single components.

You have a highly evolved brain and nervous system, which means that to understand how to effectively deal with pain and injury you need to move away from this notion of the body as single parts to an integrated model where everything is connected in a pattern.

Your brain responds to stimulating, exciting, stressful or uncomfortable situations by activating one of 3x automatic reflexes in the body.

Thomas Hanna described these as:

• The Green Light (Go-Go-Go) reflex
• The Red Light (Startle) reflex
• The Trauma reflex

Everyone activates these reflexes many times during the day without any long-lasting issues.

But what happens if one of these reflexes becomes activated very frequently?

Well, your brain becomes very proficient at what it does over and over. Repetition and practice are how we learn new skills - think about you learned to play a new sport, musical instrument or drive a car. After enough practice you do the movements automatically, without having to think about them. 

So if a reflex is activated repeatedly the brain learns to be ready to do that action. It will hold the necessary muscles in a constant, low level of contraction all the time.  

Now it becomes an involuntary action, ie. you're no longer aware that you're doing it. What you do notice, however, is the consequences of holding those muscles constantly in contraction - fatigue, soreness, tension, tightness, stiffness, guarding etc.

Read on to learn more about these 3x automatic reflexes and how they can adversely your health if they become habituated ie. repeated too often or too much.

1) The Green Light (Go-Go-Go) Reflex

The Green Light reflex is a signal to your body to get up and go. You might activate this reflex when you hear your name called, your phone ringing, when giving a public speech or preparing to confront someone.

Your first experience of the Green Light reflex is an infant, when you first learned to stand up, toddle, walk and run. This instinctive drive to become mobile in early childhood is called the Landau reflex.

When you activate the Green Light reflex the muscles down the back of your body contract in preparation for taking action.

Green Light Reflex Posture

• Chin lifted, head tipped backwards
• Shoulders pulled back and down
• Chest sticking out
• Arms turning outwards
• Lower back arched (lumbar lordosis) and pelvis tilted forwards (anterior tilt)
• Hips turning outwards
• Knees locked straight (hyperextension)
• Feet point outwards and pronated

Traits and Lifestyles That Trigger the Green Light Reflex

• Type A personality type (high achievers, perfectionists)
• Busy, always on the go, tense, outgoing, highly motivated, confident
• High stress job
• Heavy or repetitive lifting
• Military, dance or gymnastics training

Conditions Associated with the Green Light Reflex

• Back pain, stiffness when bending forwards
• Shoulder pain and tightness
• Neck pain and tightness
• Headaches
• Herniated discs
• Sciatic pain, Piriformis syndrome
• Sacroiliac joint issues
• Achilles tendinopathy
• Hamstrings and calf muscles feel tight
• Plantar fasciitis
• Bunion toes

2) The Red Light (Startle) Reflex

This is the signal to your body to stop or withdraw. It's a primitive, instinctive reaction to a perceived threat or danger that protects the bod by curling into the foetal position.

Your Red Light reflex helps you to survive an attack, but can also be initiated by the demands of family life, work pressures, financial responsibilities and social expectations - in short, the demands of modern life!

When you initiate the Red Light reflex the muscles down the front of your body contract to protect the most vulnerable parts of you. It's also the posture associated with ageing or old people!

Red Light Reflex Posture

• Head pushed forward, eyes looking downwards
• Jaw clenched shut
• Shoulders rounded forward and hunched
• Chest collapsed inwards
• Arms turning inwards, elbows bent
• Trunk bent forward with pelvis tucked under (posterior tilt)
• Hips turning inwards
• Knees bent
• Knees and ankles rolling inwards

Traits and Lifestyles That Trigger the Red Light Reflex

• Stressed out, tired, shy, fearful, sad, unconfident
• Desk workers
• Working on a computer, looking at a phone, driving for several hours or frequently during the day
• Very tall people
• Sports such as boxing, martial arts, swimming or weight lifting (where the abdominals and chest muscles are trained into constantly contracting)

Conditions Associated with the Red Light Reflex

• Back pain and tightness (from chronic contraction of abdominal muscles)
• Shoulder pain and tightness
• Thoracic outlet syndrome
• Neck pain and tightness, cervical disc issues
• Headaches
• TMJ (temporomandibular joint) disorders (jaw pain)
• Shallow breathing
• High blood pressure
• Digestive issues, constipation
• Frequent urination
• Hip, knee and ankle pain
• Feeling the hamstrings are tight
• Bunion toes

3) The Trauma Reflex

The third reflex happens in response to pain or injury to one side of the body. 

An autonomic nervous system response, called the flexor reflex, is triggered,. The flexor muscles on the injured side of the body contract to pull that part of the body away from the source of the pain. Immediately the extensor muscles on the opposite side of the body then contract so you maintain your balance and don't end up falling over!

The flexor reflex is initially very helpful during the acute pain stage as it helps prevent further damage to the body. However if it becomes constantly activated, say by chronic pain or pushing on with exercise through pain, you can develop muscle imbalances, misalignment and dysfunctional movement patterns, like a limp that persists long after the initial injury has healed,

When you initiate the Trauma Reflex the flexor muscles down one side of your body contract to protect or immobilise that part of the body.

The Trauma Reflex Posture

• Spinal curvature - C-curve, S-curve
• Spinal rotation
• One sided spinal lordosis or kyphosis
• Head tilted to one side
• One shoulder lower than the other
• One hip hitched higher than the other
• One hip rotates inwards and the other hip rotates outwards

Traits and Lifestyles That Trigger the Trauma Reflex

• Had an injury or chronic pain on one side of the body
• Had surgery on one side of the body
• Repetitive physical activities involving one side of the body and typically favouring the dominant side -  holding a baby on one hip, habitually crossing the legs one way only, carrying a bag on the same shoulder every day, long hours using a computer mouse in the same hand
• Sports that train the dominant side more than the non-dominant side - throwing sports eg. javelin, football, racquet sports eg. tennis or squash, golf, boxing

Conditions Associated with the Trauma Reflex

• Scoliosis
• Leg length discrepancy (LLD)
• Sciatic pain
• Back pain and stiffness
• Disc problems
• Shoulder pain and tightness
• "Frozen" shoulder
• Bursitis in shoulder or hip
• Thoracic outlet syndrome
• Tennis or golfers elbow (elbow tendinopathy)
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Neck pain and tightness
• Hip, knee and ankle pain

Did any of these stress reflexes, associated posture and health conditions resonate with you?

Did any of them sound familiar and can you feel any of them in your body now that you're aware of them?

If the answer to the above is "YES!" read the Next Steps section below to find out how you can learn to undo them and free your body from getting stuck in chronic pain or injury.

NEXT STEPS

• Come to a Stretch, Yoga or Pilates class with me - here you can spend time observing how your body responds to different movements in a guided sequence
• Book into a special movement workshop where you'll explore these 3x stress reflexes in more detail and learn how to move away from them to regain conscious control of your muscles so you can move freely without pain - Provisional date: Sunday 25th June (Bookings will open soon).
• Attend a half-day mind-body retreat - these are deeply relaxing, fun, social small group experiences typically held in various locations within easy reach of Worthing, West Sussex. The next one is on Sunday 10th September from 1pm to 5pm - bookings are open now (last 2x spaces available).
• Subscribe to my email list to receive "The Movement Chronicle", a weekly e-newsletter delivered directly into your inbox every Monday morning,
• Look out for a new short series of live workshops on movement - how to move away from pain, how to move with ease and confidence again and how to stay active even as you get older.....coming soon!

To find out more about my classes and retreats, or to join my email list you can contact me via any of these channels:

• Email at norma.pearson1@ntlworld.com
• DM me on Facebook Messenger 
• WhatsApp message to 07801 867361.