Why am I having this pain?
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Do you find yourself asking ‘Why ah?’ when you experience back pain, neck pain, knee pain, or headache?
You are not alone!
For many these pains seemingly come out of nowhere. We may be enjoying our daily lives and when we reach to get something out of the back of the car, bend down to pick up our child or even just roll out of bed, we are struck with pain.
Let’s explore this idea of pain…
- Pain is a message from our body, akin to a warning light on your dashboard when something is wrong.
- Pain is only a signal for us to take action, not the problem itself.
- The absence of pain of not good health.
It is a common misconception that good health means not having pain or visible signs of disease.
Understanding that health is a continuum will help us to understand our bodies better and answer that query of ‘Why Ah?’
Source: World Health Organization’s Regional Action Plan on Healthy Ageing in the Western Pacific, 2021
This concept is becoming more widely understood and slowly becoming accepted, the above graphic depicts how health and sickness are not interchangeable at the flick of a switch. Health is a spectrum which is influenced by many factors in our lives.
For the example of back pain that seemingly comes out of nowhere, we are not suddenly sick or ill. We are just reaching a point on the spectrum that pain is activated, signalling to us that action needs to be taken. Factors such as our posture, exercise levels, and history of previous injury will determine our position on the health spectrum.
By adding more pressure on an injured spine through poor posture, HIIT, or sedentary lifestyle we will nudge toward the right on the red end of the scale.
Taking care of our spine with Chiropractic care, good ergonomics and regular movement will help move us to the left on the white end of the scale and away from the pain threshold.
The goal for good health should be to not only live without pain and illness but to achieve optimal health. We should aim to be enjoying life on the far left healthy end of the scale, far away from the pain and illness threshold.
Developing awareness that health is a continuum that we are constantly influencing with our daily habits and activities helps to unravel the mystery of these once baffling aches and pains.
