Mind-Body Pain Relief for Chronic Pain (With or without a Diagnosis)
If you’re living with chronic pain, you understand the desire for answers. You want and need help, whether it’s in the form of medication or natural mind-body pain relief. Chronic pain can be devastating to your well-being and happiness. Even if you have a formal diagnosis, you likely still deal with pain and fear.
You might relate to one or all of these situations and feelings.
“I’m tired of experiencing pain every day.”
“I could do so much more if I were pain-free.”
“My pain isn’t bad enough to take medication, but I don’t want to live with it every day.”
“It’s terrifying not knowing what’s causing my pain.”
Having no clear direction for your healing can leave you feeling lost and hopeless. You may be desperate for answers. I hope this blog will shed light on some potential natural and holistic mind-body pain relief techniques that may be the answer for you.
The Mind-Body Connection and Pain
It’s no secret that your mind and body work together to support your health and well-being. A lack of connection or hyperactive communication between them can cause debilitating symptoms.
Approximately 28%-65% of people live with chronic pain¹. In most of these cases, the root cause is difficult to determine and many people never get a diagnosis.
The mental struggle that comes with chronic pain can make your daily life difficult to enjoy.
Previous experiences with pain likely contribute to heightened pain prediction and perception. One example is a 13-year-old girl who developed an intense fear of pain after an experience with severe abdominal inflammation². Her response to the onset and anticipation of pain was to lie down or take medication right away. Several studies confirm that physical pain can worsen from anticipation of pain. In the same way, it can decrease with the expectation of relief.
This is not to say that it’s all in your head. Your pain is real. Mind-body pain relief methods can address the emotional and physical components of your chronic pain.
Further Research on Mind-Body Pain Relief
We know pain can cause psychological and emotional distress. What about the other way around?
Countless studies link the onset of physical pain and discomfort to trauma or stress. For example, the effects of stress and trauma can lead to:
A lack of sleep
Poor diet
Harmful lifestyle choices
These problems can then cause hormonal imbalances. They can also disrupt your immune system’s ability to fight illness. Mind-body pain relief methods can be helpful for these issues.
When it comes to chronic pain, it can be much harder to pinpoint the root cause. This makes it difficult to receive effective treatment. Stress or trauma is often an underlying source of physical pain and discomfort. Stress and its related consequences are linked to the development of certain disorders. Among these disorders are pelvic floor issues and temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), which cause pain in the mouth and face³. Another study found an increased likelihood of chronic pain in veterans with PTSD-like symptoms. This included those who didn’t experience physical trauma⁴.
Natural methods of mind-body pain relief address this connection between our physical and emotional responses in a comprehensive way that medication can’t usually achieve.
Common Mind-Body Pain Relief Techniques
You may be familiar with some mind-body pain relief methods that you can do at home, such as:
Yoga
Breathwork
Mindfulness
Lifestyle choices such as getting quality sleep, regular exercise, and eating healthily.
Meditation (this one may not be appropriate for everyone with trauma, severe stress, or chronic pain).
If you have a lot of emotional and physical pain, meditation might be too much at one time for your mind and body. This is true for some other mind-body pain relief practices as well. Somatic Experiencing (SE) addresses this with techniques like titration, which works with small amounts of activation at a time to avoid overwhelm.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is another holistic mind-body pain relief method that has helped some people⁵:
Reduce their pain
Improve their quality of life
Shift their perception of pain (which can lead to less physical pain and fewer emotional symptoms)
While these methods can be helpful, somatic work is a more holistic approach to mind-body pain relief that integrates many of these techniques. It's often effective for those who have chronic pain, whether or not they know the origin.
I talk a lot about the importance of somatic work with a practitioner. Practicing tuning into the body and present moment can be most beneficial in the presence of a co-regulator, especially if there's trauma.
Somatic Interventions for Mind-Body Pain Relief
Somatic Experiencing (SE) and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) are two practices that I do with my clients. These techniques help strengthen your mind-body connection, resulting in greater nervous system resiliency.
Your chronic pain may be a side effect of emotional conditions, such as chronic stress or trauma. SSP uses specially filtered music that brings feelings of safety to your nervous system. This felt safety is usually lacking in those with high emotional and physical reactivity.
While SSP needs to be done with the help of a practitioner, you can listen to the music on your own or in the presence of your somatic healer.
If you're listening with me as a co-regulator, I can:
Observe how you react to the music (too much too fast can have a negative effect)
Notice changes in your breathing and posture
Figure out which movements and positions benefit you the most
Offer suggestions for an optimal environment (like using somatic supports, having the lights on or off, or listening during a certain time of day)
If you choose to listen to the music on your own, we’ll have regular check-ins that will allow me to do all of the above. The decision to listen on your own or with a practitioner depends on your preferences and needs.
SE can also help with emotional reactivity and chronic pain. One SE technique that’s relevant when working with chronic pain is pendulation. Pendulation helps release excess energy that wasn't discharged after stressful or traumatic events. It involves noticing what doesn't feel good, followed by shifting your focus to what feels good or neutral within your body. We also work on tuning out of your body and noticing positive or neutral aspects of your environment.
SE and SSP address your physical feelings, thoughts, and emotions. The connection between all these aspects of your well-being is essential to understand.
Somatic work helps your nervous system differentiate between safety and danger. This helps reduce triggers and increases your tolerance for painful or uncomfortable feelings. While it may not get rid of chronic pain completely, it helps many people reduce their pain. Those who do somatic work with a qualified practitioner often feel more in control of their emotional and physical health.
Mind-Body Pain Relief with Help from a Practitioner
The techniques we talked about in this blog aren’t easy to do on your own when you’re in pain. Practicing with a practitioner who’s a co-regulating presence and guide can help with your healing process.
If you’re living with chronic pain and you haven’t found a solution, I encourage you to reach out. Somatic healing might be what you need to find relief from your pain and welcome enjoyment back into your life.
https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2018.130401
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01638/full
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296652
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/20008198.2019.1608717
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00570/full