MEDHYA YOGA & WELLNESS

I still remember, about 2 years ago, I was lying down on my yoga mat with a debilitating pain in my lower back, irritated and helpless, thinking what could possibly be wrong with my back. Each morning was dreadful. I woke up with aches and pain all over my body, particularly the back. I had tried multiple suggestions – changing from a soft mattress to a hard one, sleeping on the floor, taking painkillers, calcium supplements, and even did physical movement. Nothing was working except for painkillers which brought temporary relief. Some people said, it’s a postpartum thing, but i was not ready to accept it, why me? My sister with two kids was just fine and did not have any pain.

I was not ready to accept my fate of living with chronic back pain and popping pills. I decided to take charge of my health. I started learning and practising yoga in a structured manner. Gradually my back pain began to subside. From a regular thing, it became occasional, however it still persisted, specially on days when I missed my asana practice.

I thought to myself, “There are so many people who don’t even exercise regularly, yet they don’t seem to be suffering like I do. There was clearly something more to it than what met the eye. Physical therapy was not sufficient.” So, I began my research on chronic pain with the intention of not just healing myself but also guiding those who have been suffering from chronic pain and living a compromised life.

Understanding the multifaceted nature of back pain is essential for effective treatment, and this article will outline three key points you must know before consulting a doctor. This will help you approach your pain with a more comprehensive perspective.

Your brain not just senses pain, but also creates pain

The human brain is a fabulous organ. It not only senses external stimuli that could cause pain but can also create real physical pain, even if the external signals or causations are missing. It is essential to understand the brain’s role in healing chronic back pain.

We are conditioned into believing that physical factors or so-called triggers are why our back hurts. Keeping injuries aside, these triggers are multiple, such as disc herniation, bone degeneration, lifting heavy objects, a soft mattress, a hard floor, a chair with insufficient back support, too much standing time, and so on. Our conditioning keeps us looking for external causes of our back pain, but the truth is that the back pain we experience is created by our brain.

This is not hard to fathom because our body and mind are one continuous whole and not separate entities, meaning that our emotional states have far-reaching effects on all of the body’s systems. In fact, the Yogic concept on diseases has always been this: Aadhi leads to Vyadhi; most of the diseases in the physical body are caused by our mental and emotional state. Biologically, this process is carried out by neurochemicals released by the brain known as neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, which flow throughout our body, affecting changes at the cellular level. For those who suffer from chronic pain, it is important to understand that the real cause of their pain may not be purely structural or biochemical; they are psychological.

Dr. John Sarno, the author of the famous book ‘Healing Back Pain,’ has treated thousands of patients with chronic back pain using this concept. He argues that pain is a strategy the brain uses to keep unpleasant thoughts and emotions from rising from the unconscious mind into the conscious mind. Through established physiological pathways, the brain creates pain as a distraction and might even conveniently associate a trigger as the cause of pain. By doing so, it keeps our attention focused on the physical symptoms and the painful thoughts and emotions repressed in our minds.

The real cause of most back pain is the repressed emotions in your psyche

To understand this better, let’s dig deeper into the psychological factors that cause real physiological pain.

Thinking and feeling is a privilege to us humans, allowing us to experience both positive and negative emotions. We all seek joy and happiness, but reality intercedes, and we all experience sadness and disappointment, anger and frustration. Primarily there are three main sources of stress, anger, and conflict:

• Daily Stressors: Includes home and work responsibility, worrying about our children, our family, our parents, finances, the inconsiderate drivers on the road, and even the long queues at the market, etc.. The list really is endless.
• Emotional distress: Includes difficult childhood memories or some situational trauma, which even if we have forgotten, still persist as a potential source of unpleasant feelings.
• Personality traits: Even our personality traits can become a source of stress. For example, having a “perfectionist and ambitious” attitude wherein we have very high expectations of ourselves. This pushing attitude can overstrain and leave one exhausted. The second trait is the “goodist attitude” of going out of the way to help and care for others at the cost of self sacrifice. Even this can cause lot of stress as we make our needs subordinate to those around us.

No matter the source of stress, the way our brain/mind works is by repressing the unpleasant thoughts and emotions. They find a home deep in the unconscious mind. This is a very good defence mechanism—it allows us to move on and take care of our responsibilities and be nice people that others like and respect. Unfortunately, we can only hold so many of these unpleasant thoughts and emotions in the unconscious.

The accumulated anger, stress, and conflict want to rise to consciousness, but we usually do not let this happen. If it were to happen, we might rant and rave and do things that would not be acceptable—things that would make others not think well of us. To distract us from these unpleasant thoughts and emotions, our brain creates pain, real physical pain. When we focus on our pain, we are distracted from these negative emotions residing deep in our psyche.

Therefore, the reason why most of the treatments meted out for chronic back pain do not last long, be it surgery, steroidal injections, medicines, or even physical therapy, is simple: treatment of a psychologically caused symptom with a physical modality will not work!

Unless we resolve our repressed emotions with proper knowledge and behavioural skills, we will be hampered in our attempt to heal chronic pain.

You Don’t Need MRIs Until There Are Red Flags Identified

In many cases, MRI scans reveal disc herniation or degeneration, which are often mistakenly assumed to be the cause of pain. However, these findings are frequently incidental and not the actual source of pain. This has been proved through multiple studies that took MRIs of people of all age groups who had no back pain and still showed disc herniations, degeneration, and bone spurs. This essentially means that unless there are specific red flags indicating a serious underlying condition, MRIs are not necessary for most cases of back pain. Understanding this can prevent unnecessary anxiety, medical procedures, and financial strain.

Most back pain (almost 85-90%) has a psychological cause, without any specific underlying condition or pathology. Doctors classify this as ‘non-specific’ back pain, which could be coupled with weak and tight musculature due to lack of movement. However, it is important to identify certain symptoms, which could be red flags, even if they are a small percentage, and seek medical intervention. Some of these include severe trauma, unexplained weight loss, fever, significant weakness or numbness, loss of bowel or bladder control, and a history of cancer. If you experience any of these symptoms along with your back pain, it is crucial to consult a doctor promptly for a thorough evaluation.

Conclusion

Living with chronic pain creates challenges and life predicaments that are bigger than a person is accustomed to dealing with which makes pain and distress even harder to bear. Information is power. By gaining knowledge and ways for coping with pain we can strengthen our confidence to deal with the situation more effectively.

Self-directed interventions are a particularly good way to regain a sense of independence and maximise overall well-being and quality of life. Yoga therapy proves to be a highly effective treatment as it addresses both the physical and psychological aspects of pain. Once learned under a trained therapist, yoga empowers you with the tools and techniques that provide lasting relief and enhance your overall quality of life.