How Emotions Can Impact Back Pain
It’s been over 25 years now, but I can still picture it as clear as day: my Dad lying down on the living room floor every single night performing a series of exercises that a local physician told him would strengthen his back and relieve his ongoing back pain.
One of the more visually memorable ones involved him pulling his legs up to his chest and holding them there for several minutes, so if I walked in the room at just the right time and angle my Dad’s pajama-ed patoot would be the first thing I’d see.
My poor Dad. In spite of the daily routine of exercises his lower back pain never went away. Another doctor told him to take up swimming, which he tried to no avail. It seemed he was always looking for a solution to and relief from the chronic lower back pain. By the time I was a young adult he seemed almost resigned that the pain would never go away and he would have to learn to live with it.
In addition to his constant backache, my Dad also seemed to be pretty depressed a lot of the time.
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Hi Nancy Drew Fan -
Thanks for the personal look at back pain, an issue for millions of people. The discussions on whether chronic back pain is from emotional causes, or physical causes, or a combination of the two are compelling. I hope EmpowHer members will seize your challenge to discuss the topic and let us know their thoughts.
Take good care,
Pat
Back pain is very debilitating. With that in mind, how could your emotions not get involved. You need to also break the chronic pain cycle of the nervous system as well. I have found hula hooping as a tool with my patients to be valuable. www.hoopforlowerbackexercises.com