A Billion Mile Clench

Cara, a new patient of mine, shared with me some of her painful childhood memories. I listened and watched intently, tracking her every move. Suddenly, Cara began to rub her hands over and over again. As her story telling deepened, it was obvious that Cara’s physiology was in the throws of upset. I made a gentle statement, “I notice you are rubbing your hands quite vigorously.” She looked at me inquisitively and then fell deep into thought. Cara then connected to her hand movements, looked up again, and stated emphatically, “My healing journey feels like a “Billion Mile Clench!”

Theresa explained, during our consult, that she came in for care to tame the anxiety that had overwhelmed her for the past 30 years. The anxiety level was so intense that she had to wrap her arms around herself to stop her body from shaking and contracting. She looked at me from a place of deep sadness and asked if it was possible to “stop the madness?”

Judy was a full-time mom dealing with two of her four children’s serious health concerns. Managing her health during that time had become a futile endeavor. As a mom, she spent years sacrificing herself for the sake of the family. Thank God that her children weathered the storm. Soon thereafter, Judy ended up in bed for months in utter shutdown. Now that she is healthy again, thanks to her Functional Medicine Doctor, she has come to the office to find her “new meaning, direction and purpose.” She is asking for guidance and innately knows that a healthy, adaptable nervous system is the key.

Claire came in concerned and complaining about intense neck pain, a deep ache that she just couldn’t shake. Claire was medically treated for 2 herniated discs in her lower cervical spine one year ago. She has a burgeoning on-line travel agency business that requires many hours in front of the computer. In caring for Claire over the last 2 visits, it was apparent to me that from top to bottom, her spinal bio-mechanics were markedly out of line. As a Network Spinal Analysis Practitioner, I look for dysfunction (negative physiological and neurological habit patterns) in both the bio-mechanics and bio-energetics of the spine and nervous system.

Evaluating Claire’s thoracic spine and surrounding musculature, I noted a broad area of tension that was not mechanical in nature. It was like she had stored a lifetime's worth of stress in that one broad area. When I brought it to her attention, she told me that her massage therapist told her a similar thing. “The body serves as a resource that reflects and stores formative memories and the core beliefs they have generated, I told her.” I described the feel and character of the accumulated stress in her thoracic spine.  Noted Its location, tension, and chronicity suggest a specific childhood struggle that continued to impact her life and play havoc with her physiology. She looked at me and said, “You’re exactly right” and was amazed to hear that her body was still harboring old childhood memories.

Life’s traumas and events accumulate as stress in our bodies and the nervous system can only handle stress for so long before it gets “stuck” in habit patterns it can’t get out of.  It’s like trying to steer a parked car. You’re not going anywhere!  The result of this produces chronic pain, symptoms, and conditions that just don’t seem to resolve.  You don’t have to “live with it!” You just have to see a Network Spinal Analysis Practitioners who are highly trained and able to see the “bigger picture!”  Or as we often say, “the story behind the pain.”