Pain Going There But Not Coming Back?
The Mystery of Pain In The Car?
Here is a little puzzle for you.
See if you can work out why someone would have pain on the way somewhere but not on the way back.
I’ll describe this patient's situation and see if you can see why this phenomenon may occur.
Understanding this in others can help us see similar situations in ourselves and our own experience of pain. This person had pain in his low back and leg for many months. There had been no trauma pre-empting this. It had resisted anything he’d tried, but he started to see improvements within a few physiotherapy sessions.
Physical Elements Alone
He believed his pain was only made up of physical elements, so we just started with physical factors to help him without exploring any other aspect. So he began to see that it wasn’t only the exercises themselves that helped him but his intent behind doing them, which was also important.
The pain, which had been constant for so long, became intermittent. His frustration remained because he couldn’t see the triggers for when the pain came back, a widespread problem for many people recovering from persistent pain, mainly when only focusing on the physical element.
Driving Made It Worse
His issue was driving, and this would always make his symptoms worse. However, as they reduced, he was puzzled when he set out on a 45-minute journey in the car one day, anticipating it being painful both there and back.
After 20 minutes, the pain appeared, and in 45 minutes, he could barely sit on his buttock. He was relieved to get out of the car at his destination finally.
He lifted a couple of suitcases out of the boot and returned home after about a 30-minute break.
The route home was the same distance and time, yet he experienced no pain on the way home.
Why No Pain Whilst Coming Back?
If the pain was only driven by being in the car and sitting in it for a certain length, how could he have no pain on his return? Every physical characteristic was unchanged, and the load on them increased as the duration increased.
Let’s look at the other details of his journey to determine what else might have influenced the pain.
He was dropping off his youngest daughter at university, who was leaving home for the first time. She was the youngest of four children. He was going with his wife, and it is easy to understand the emotion behind seeing someone leave the family home, possibly for the last time ever.
When this happens, it can feel hard to let go.
Other Influences On Pain
Is this helping you see how other things may influence his experience of pain?
On his return, he sat in the car with his wife, and they chatted about their daughter, obviously concerned about how she will do but realising that she had to start to fend for herself at this stage in her life.
Does it make sense to see that he lets go of the emotional resistance to that? He also lets go of his pain. That expression reflected in his body means the drive home was pain-free.
He was blown away when I offered him this explanation as a possible reason behind what happened. He understood it entirely but said he could have never explained it that way because of his steadfast belief that his pain was structural.
Easy Mistake To Make
It is a mistake that many of us make. He recognised that his military background, past experiences, and driven traits influenced the belief that pain was only structural.
This tipping point allows him to recognise other triggers that may have been invisible to him for a while. This removes the immediate reactions based on fear or frustration, as the mind starts to consider what else may curiously influence the output of pain.
That moment is the moment of recovery. The practice after that dictates how long the recovery lasts and how permanent it becomes. It isn’t easy when the triggers feel invisible to us.
See Your Triggers Differently
If you feel this has helped you identify triggers in this person, it may help you see some of your own.
All you have to do is choose to look but with a sense of curiosity in how your body responds to those things, and then you can select different behaviours if and when the output of pain appears.
When you look curiously, the magic is that the pain does not even show up.
You may just be left there with a smile.
What’s next?
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