Get Rid of Stress, Get Rid of Pain

Imagine this conversation in my adjusting room: “Doc, what is causing me to feel this pain?” “According to your health history and my exam, I’d say stress is causing your body to react this way.” “Stress…is that all?”

This is a conversation I have on a weekly basis. What many people fail to realize is that stress is a major factor in how your mind and body react to disease, pain, personal relationships, even your ability to reason through a situation. There are times when stress is a fantastic motivator. Marathon runners, stock traders (the Wall Street kind, not the kind that hears “moo” all day,) even college students all perform wonders when the stress of competition and survival is bearing down on them like a semi-truck. There is a breaking point, though, and if you follow those who thrive on stress, you’ll find that Wall-Street traders have a high rate of heart attacks, marathon runners have bodies that break down in middle age, and even college students—those kids stuck between childhood and the real world—have a high rate of sickness in the week after exams. The fact is that an excess of stress breaks us down.

Stress comes in all kinds of categories, but for our purposes please realize that your mind and body cannot be separated. Here is the main point that I try to drive home for every stressed-out patient that I adjust: physical pain is a manifestation of mental stress, and mental stress is absolutely tangled up in physical pain. I have seen people who, by all counts, should be laid up in bed with crippling pain. I know men who have broken their vertebrae multiple times, and women who naturally give birth with no medical intervention. I have observed these people enduring and living their lives with full function, because (and here is the crux) they deal with their stress! They do not ignore their stress or their symptoms. They take the time to understand their situation, instead of using avoidance techniques to run away from the situation. People who have a loving, nurturing home life and a strong sense of will come through physically painful situations with success. Notice I didn’t say “with ease.” Dealing with stressful situations is not easy.

For the record, I am a holistic, natural doctor, and I consider popping pain pills on a daily basis to be an avoidance tactic. Slapping duct tape over the “check engine” light will help you forget it’s there, but it won’t help you fix the problem. Pain pills are just duct tape for your nervous system. Getting chiropractic adjustments can help you break the stress-pain cycle. Realigning your spine to get your nervous system fully functioning is a healthy step toward recovering. If you are having a hard time getting through a sickness, ask yourself this question: what, in your life, is causing you to hang on to your stress?