Dr. Sean Mackey, an associate professor at Stanford University, was quoted in an article in the February 2008 issue of Best Life entitled "The Psychology of Back Pain".
The standard model of pain-- the same model that is taught in every medical school (and chiropractic school)-- is that you treat the pain by fixing the underlying pathology. We're now beginning to recognize that you can't talk about chronic pain without talking about its psychological aspects. It's a condition in which signals from the body are literally distorted by the brain.
In other words, most doctors will try to diagnose the cause of a person's pain, be it perhaps a muscle strain, osteoarthritis, a ligament tear, an inflamed nerve, a subluxated vertebra, etc. Then after an accurate diagnosis, the appropriate treatment is assigned. For a medical doctor, the fix may be a drug or a surgical procedure. For a chiropractor, the fix is more times than not a spinal adjustment.
However, Dr. Mackey claims that this mechanistic approach to pain elimination may not be effective when the pain is chronic. "Chronic" meaning that even though the injury has healed sufficiently, the pain still persists. For some reason, the brain still perceives pain from an area of previous trauma that should no longer be generating neuroactive chemicals. There should no longer be a significant inflammatory response which triggers a pain cascade up along the central nervous system.
Think of it this way: the brain is still getting "phone calls of pain" but the caller on the other end is no longer there dialing. (Cue the Twilight Zone music.)
So what can we do about the chronic pain ghost signals?
I will write up some suggestions in my next post. Stay tuned.
Do you remember The Karate Kid? It’s a great movie that came out in the Eighties (and a "remake" is in the works). It tells the story about a teenager who is picked on by bullies and a wise old Japanese man, Mr. Miyagi, who helps him overcome this dilemma.
It is very interesting how Mr. Miyagi helps Daniel-san.
The first time Mr. Miyagi comes to the aid of Daniel is the night of a high school Halloween dance. Daniel is chased by a group of skeleton costume wearing bullies and gets trapped against a chain link fence. With no way out, he begins to take a major beating. But right before the final blow slams against Daniel’s skull, Mr. Miyagi comes to the rescue and fights off all the bullies with his awesome karate.
Mr. Miyagi then agrees to teach Daniel karate. Daniel learns to defend himself with confidence and inner-strength. The final scene where he triumphs over the bully in a full-contact sparring match makes you want to jump and cheer.
But consider this:
What if Mr. Miyagi never taught Daniel the ways of blocking, punching, and “crane-style”? What if instead of “wax on, wax off,” Mr. Miyagi decided it would be best if he appointed himself Daniel’s bodyguard? In this alternate movie version, Miyagi-san follows Daniel around his classes and after school activities, even chaperoning his dates. Whenever trouble brews, Miyagi is there to unleash karate to save the day! Is this a movie that would make any of us want to jump and cheer at the end?
The Karate Kid is a movie about finding our own inner strength, to become confident in our own abilities and not depending on others to fight our battles for us. There is a lesson here we can apply to the current panic caused by the Swine flu. When we hear in the News how this virus is spreading across the nation, it's easy to feel helpless like Daniel, cowering before the scary bullies. Feeling like there is no way we can defend off these enemies by ourselves, the idea of a powerful vaccine bodyguard that can step in and save the day is a great relief to many.
We hear reports of our government developing and stockpiling vaccines for us and we feel safe. But as great as a hero-vaccine may appear to be, if we end up depending too much on these shots to fight our own battles, in the end we all will emerge as weaklings. Whether it be Swine flu, pneumonia, or a common cold, when we turn to drugs to fight our health battles for us, we diminish the innate immune power within. We lose faith in our own abilities and potential to defend for ourselves and begin to morph into feeble and fragile beings.
The inner strength and innate intelligence manifested in a complex, wise immune system is underrated and undervalued by most of us. When we think about facing the consequences of Swine flu or any sort of infection, we shudder in fear like Daniel against the fence. As a nation we start to feel helpless and unable to defend ourselves from this Mexican viral invader.
We now depend on the vaccines and the antibiotics and the cold symptom medications to fight the fight for us. And because we rely so much on these “Mr. Miyagi drugs” for every little germ conflict that we face, our immune systems have become pathetically weak-- just as Daniel would’ve surely become a coward and a weakling if Miyagi-san ended up always fighting his battles for him.
So millions of people are right now terrorized by these microscopic Swine flu bad guys. Panicking that there is no effective vaccine available, the simple thought to prepare to fight the battle of infection on their own never occurs to them. These are the victims that always rush to the doctor for their antibiotic and vaccine miracle cures at the first sight of a sniffle or itchy throat. The fight against germs is never really a fight-- to these scared souls, the best defense is either avoiding contact or reliance on a drug.
Just as Daniel developed his karate step by step, precept upon precept, the development and strengthening of our own immune system occurs by doing basic things faithfully and consistently. Just as karate can be broken down to four main components: blocking, grappling, punching and kicking, the four basic foundations for a healthy immune system are 1) plenty of water, 2) great nutrition, 3) adequate sleep, and 4) controlling stress in a positive way.
Then, add to these basics a secret weapon crane-style kick: the chiropractic adjustment for a more healthy nervous system. And suddenly, the Swine flu bullies don't seem so tough anymore. You are now prepared to fight your own battles.
Sunday, January 2, 2011 at 03:33PM 
