Why Isn't There A Cure For Chronic Pain?

Modern Western medicine has made many amazing advances, think MRI scans, painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, injections and surgeries. 

And yet even with modern technology, a huge array of medical interventions, backed up by soft tissue manual therapy treatments, a cure for chronic pain remains elusive.

Medical and health professionals all too often dismiss concerned patients with comments like:

• "It's a normal part of getting older"
• "You'll just have to live with it (the pain)"
• "It's all in your head"

What might we be missing?

The modern Western medical approach is to tackle your symptoms - sciatica, muscle tension, back / hip / shoulder / neck pain - but these are often NOT the source, which is SENSORY MOTOR AMNESIA (SMA).

What Is Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA)

SMA is a condition where the brain loses it's ability to sense and control muscles. When this happens, the affected muscles become chronically contracted, leading to restricted movement, distorted posture, imbalance, injury and pain. The muscles become so tense they never fully relax, even when you're sleeping!

SMA develops over time in response to accidents, injuries, surgeries, major illnesses, and ongoing or frequent physical / emotional stress or trauma (eg. bullying at school, a toxic relationship or a job you hate).

SMA affects the big, powerful muscles of your centre - abdomen, spine, pelvis, waist - and spreads out in a chain reaction to other connected body parts.

Muscles that are stuck in partial or full involuntary contraction feel hard, sore and painful - you know, the places that make you wince when you have a sports massage.

Muscles with SMA may feel perennially tense or tight, even if you're diligently stretching. They can also feel weak from being constantly contracted - weak glutes, anyone?!

SMA can make you feel clumsy because you're no longer able to coordinate fluid, functional movement patterns. Your weight may become unevenly distributed, leading to skeletal imbalances, joint pain, bursitis and disc herniations.

Who Discovered SMA?

The term SMA was coined by Thomas Hanna to describe what happens when you lose voluntary control of your sensory-motor control system.

• Sensory = Feel
• Motor = Move
• Amnesia = Forget

Thomas Hanna was a philosopher and neurophysiologist who asked "Why are people not free?".

He believed that humans can learn to improve their capacity to self-sense and therefore control their lives. His studies in neurophysiology taught him about the role the brain plays in controlling muscles and reflexive patterns of contraction.

It was Thomas Hanna who used the term "somatics" to describe movement re-education by cultivating internal self-awareness.

Through his Clinical Somatic Education (CSE) work, Hanna demonstrated that many conditions written off as structural and pathological by doctors are actually functional in nature. That means they can be changed by you!!!!

Features of Thomas Hanna's Clinical Somatic Education work include:

• The 3 universal and predictable reflexes that our body goes into when encountering any type of stress
• How these 3 stress reflexes show up in our posture and movement
• The concept of SMA
• A method of alleviating chronic muscle tension  and changing the habitual movement patterns that causing stiffness and pain in our body
• Harnessing the power of Pandiculation - also known as "Nature's reset button"

His work built on the earlier pioneering efforts of F. Matthias Alexander (The Alexander Technique) and Moshe Feldenkrais (The Feldenkrais Method). Have you heard of these better-known techniques?

How To Reverse SMA And Chronic Pain?

Thomas Hanna believed wholeheartedly in education to relieve chronic pain.

Just as you learned to walk, brush your teeth, ride a bike, play a musical instrument, your brain can learn new ways of moving.

The concept of neuroplasticity says that the brain is capable of building fresh neural pathways and learning new tasks at any age.

There's 2 important things to note about the brain:

• The brain is the control centre for the whole body
• What the brain does often, it does well

Therefore, if your brain learned through repetition to keep muscles constantly contracted, it must be actively involved in the process of learning to release and relax for optimal functional movements.

Passive treatment methods that are done TO you, such as physiotherapy or massage, can't re-educate your brain or reverse the patterns of tension that led to your pain.

Sure, they have benefits and often bring relief but it's short-lived and the pain invariably keeps coming back.

Improving sensory-motor control, restoring muscle function and reversing is a lifelong, educational process.

The benefits to you of developing your own somatic practice are :

• a deeper understanding of your body
• the awareness to self-sense imbalances
• the ability to self-correct these BEFORE you get injured or sick.

WAYS TO WORK WITH ME TO RELIEVE PAIN & PREVENT INJURY

If you're ready to find lasting freedom from chronic pain and stiffness, an awesome option is:

1) Unlock Your Body breakthrough session

This is a one-off powerful 1:1 session designed to help you understand the root triggers behind your persistent pain. A breakthrough session is ideal if you have a specific pain or injury that you're struggling to resolve, even if you've already tried other treatments.

We'll work together to find new ways of moving without pain. You'll leave with a deeper knowledge of what's driving pain in your body, and a clear action plan to get lasting relief. 

For some of my clients, a single session is enough to reset their body out of pain. For others, this is their first step to learning how to move their body without pain after months or years of struggling.

Apply HERE  and I'll be in touch to arrange an initial complementary consultation to discuss whether an Unlock Your Body breakthrough session will be a good fit for you. 

Other ways you can find help with managing pain or an injury are:

• Book into a Stretch or Pilates class with me - these are a good introduction to some movement explorations from The Befriend Your Body (BYB) Method for pain relief and relaxation. This is my signature framework that I use to help my clients get out of pain and back to the activities they love.
• Subscribe HERE to receive "The Movement Chronicle", a free weekly e-newsletter delivering movement and pain relief truth bombs directly into your inbox every Monday morning,

You can connect with me through any of these channels:

• Email at norma@unicornhealthandfitness.com
• Follow me on Facebook and DM me on Messenger https://www.facebook.com/norma.pearsonfitness
• WhatsApp message to 07801 867361.