The Medical Myth That Kept People In Chronic Pain For Years, And How One Expert Finally Helped
Max kegfire | Shutterstock For decades, maybe even longer, the medical establishment has told people that there are two kinds of pain: physical pain from a source that can be seen (like from a broken bone, a heart attack, or a laceration) and pain that starts in the brain, like psychosomatic pain. Now we know that this separation is a medical myth, and it always was. Mind and body are all one thing.
Pain, of all types, lives in the brain and nervous system. Whether you need stitches from a kitchen accident or your chest aches from grief or stress, these are all real types of pain. They are coming from the nerves and being processed by the brain. None of them is fake or "all in your head".
With that in mind, Andrea Miller of Getting Open wanted to better understand an area of health, pain control, and physiology that pretty much nobody talked about: fascia. Research explaines that facia works, essentiallly as the regulatory system in health and disease.
If you've heard about fascia or fascia release online lately, that's probably because Sue Hitzmann has been raising awareness about the crucial role fascia plays in our health for 25 years. On this episode, she explains that understanding the role of fascia in the body can help people in chronic pain, those who are dealing with fatigue, and even mysterious symptoms that medical professionals often struggle to understand.
The medical myth of 'mind-body connection' that keeps people in chronic pain
Mind and body are all one thing, and they were never separate
Mind and body are all one thing, and that one thing is connected via fascia, according to Hitzmann. "It's the organ of awareness. It's a sensory organ," she explains. "There are more sensory nerves and fashion than there are in muscles or anywhere else."
Fascia plays a role in pain, including chronic pain and migraines, which is generally related to inflammation. Hitzmann encourages you to ask, "Why are you inflamed?" That pain is an early signal fascia gives that something is up.
The fascia is the current of the mind-body, the thing that makes the mind and body one thing. You could say the. Mind and body are not even connected. They are intrinsically one, and we don't fully understand it.
No, you're not 'making up' your pain or fatigue
Pain is one area where our lack of understanding really shows up because we don't treat it well as a society. We put a ton of shame on people with chronic pain, and this includes doctors and other professionals in the form of medical gaslighting. Yet, when looking at the role of fascia and fascia depletion, we can better understand some of the ways pain manifests through our daily habits.
A lot of our pain starts with a sedentary lifestyle, demonstrated by the common effects produced by sitting for too long in one position. Hitzmann explains, "When you get up, and you feel as stiff as a dried-out sponge left out overnight on your kitchen sink, when you first try to get up off of your chair, your joints are all stiff. That's your fascia talking to you. That's your fascia alerting you that the fluid perfusion has declined just in the time that you're sitting. If you don't ever do anything about it, you start getting joint pain."
You've already heard of fascia-focused treatments
While the idea of fascia treatment may seem new, you've probably heard of cranial sacral therapy, visceral manipulation, lymphatic drainage treatments.
Hotzmann said she started to look at therapeutic interventions like cranial sacral therapy, visceral manipulation, and lymphatic drainage, which also talked about fascia. When she dug deeper, she made a discovery: "they were talking about electricity," explained Hitxmann.
This led Hitzmann to explore how therapeutic intervention could hydrate the fascia and alter the nervous system's flow through the body, help reset the nervous system, and stop sending a pain signal back to the person.
Hotzmann described one patient who "had migraines, TMJ, jaw pain, and I would treat her with cranial sacral therapy. For almost a week, she would go with no migraines at all. This is somebody heavily medicated for years for migraines, and nothing but medication. Over the course of three weeks, she would come once a week, reduce her migraines, and then she started to reduce her medications."
Respect your mind and body as one can change everything
"It doesn't matter how you got into pain. It plays a role in any type of pain, from emotional instability to psychological, chemical, or neurological," explains Hitzmann. "If you have instability, fascia is the stability architecture you want to work on to see if you can regain balance."
Fascia can help with mental health, so you can avoid some of the effects of nervous system degeneration. None of this is new. It's basically the same as recovery from working out or being highly active physically. It is fluid replacement. It's what your fascia craves.
Considering the role of fascia requires a holistic approach to wellness. An approach that is proactive in treating health issues rather than reactive. It is giving your mind-body what it needs instead of turning to a pharmaceutical reaction to cover a symptom.
Understanding fascia helps us imagine a different story for healing and keeping vibrant makes a huge difference.
Will Curtis is YourTango's expert editor. Will has over 14 years of experience as an editor covering relationships, spirituality, and human interest topics.
