The Complex World of Pain
- Brainz Magazine
- Aug 7
- 7 min read
Carly Allen is a Master of Energetics, Root-Cause Therapist, Kundalini Teacher, Advanced body worker/body alignment specialist & Lymphatic Drainage Practitioner. She is the founder of Remedial Movement – A Natural Therapies Clinic in Brisbane, Australia, that specializes in Women's Health and chronic conditions/pain.
Are you experiencing pain in your body? Chronic pain, recovery, or general aches and pains? A lot of the time, experiencing pain in specific locations can have a much deeper message for us. If we can slow down and listen to our body, we can start the process of untwisting ourselves one lesson at a time.
The link between fascia & pain?
Fascia is a wonderful bodily structure that encompasses our organs, bones, muscles, and has both the lymphatic and nervous systems within its structure. What affects and impacts one of these systems will ultimately affect the other. Awareness around the interplay between systems and structures can provide a deeper perspective that the pain we experience is always multifaceted, and simply treating one side of the coin isn't always going to get us the results we are seeking.
Dealing with any form of pain can be debilitating. It's exhausting, mentally challenging, and has the capacity to drastically change our quality of life. So when you are living with it, it can take all of our attention and drive to get rid of it. Although difficult and confronting, sometimes turning towards the sensation of pain, or to the part of ourselves that is restricting us from moving forward, is the only way to move forward. Fascia is a complex system that is greatly affected by hydration levels, posture, hormones, sanitary lifestyle, emotions, and/or trauma. It remembers everything, even if you don't. Trauma is a big word that is thrown around these days, but it is important to know that the body doesn't label trauma; society labels trauma. To the body, trauma can be any hurtful event, comment, difficult relationship, childhood memory, expectation, disappointment, frustration, irritation, fright, or shock. Anything that has made your body contract, even a little, is trauma to the body.
An example of this could be a negative comment that has been repeated to you over the years. Each time you hear this comment, you slightly contract. If you do not voice your emotions at this time, we store them, suppress them.
Many traditional modalities can assist with the process of accepting and letting go; however, some incidents get stored in the fascia and energetics that we can't always articulate. This is where you can embrace somatic practices and alternative healing to assist with the letting-go process.
Ultimately, our pain should never be something to run away from or suppress, as it can hold important information for us. It can be an opportunity for deeper learning about oneself if we choose to see it from a different perspective, as difficult as this can be. Not only does our fascia have this stored emotional component, but it also has to handle our modern way of life, which is extremely sanitary compared to generations gone by.
The lymphatic system is sluggish and slow by nature. It pumps with either movement or breath and has a slight contraction of 6 beats per minute. Major node clusters are typically in joint locations, meaning the hours spent in a seated position do not facilitate positive lymphatic flow through the body. This leads to an accumulation of toxins in the system. For women with any thoracic pain and/or injuries, there is a large number of nodes in the chest/breast area, and a build up of lymphatic flow through the fascia in the chest, axilla and abdominal can result in a cascade of posture dysfunctions and other conditions due to the lack of flow, nutrition, oxygen and blood to these areas.
Generally, when pain is present in the body, the posture dysfunction that occurs is forward shoulder, which restricts the diaphragm, leading to pelvic torsion. In this forward shoulder posture, energetically, you are protecting your heart space. Physiologically, due to the posture restriction, you will be shallow-breathing. The nervous system will be heavily involved in this breath pattern, as it is not relaxed; rather, it is stuck in the sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight) or dorsal vagal response (freeze).
Breath in pain management
Our breath greatly facilitates assisting with pain management due to the direct effect on the fascia, lymphatic, and nervous system. Our breath has the capacity to balance our emotions, physical body, and spiritual aspects even through the most challenging of times. Often, when an individual has chronic pain, they can disperse their control to external forces in the desperate attempt to gain some form of relief. This can lead to a feeling of powerlessness.
When we have an imbalance in our breath or it has become depleted, the signs that you can experience range widely but are very similar to those that are also experienced with the pain body:
Stress and anxiety
Aches and pains
Negative thoughts
Digestive issues
Extreme fatigue: Depression
Dizziness and headaches
Sexual problems and
Emotional reactions
When our breath is balanced, it means oxygen is circulating through our body, cleansing the blood. Signs that the breath is balanced are:
The immune system is strong and resilient
You have more energy
You have better digestion
Your health generally improves
You have clarity
You have a sense of relaxation
You have increased confidence
You start to feel empowered
Hydration in pain management
Another aspect of pain management that can be overlooked is water intake. A vital need, with 60% of the total body's makeup consisting of water. Every function requires it. When we restrict water intake, it can lead to poor cognitive function, tiredness, mood swings, dizziness, increased stress levels, headaches, digestive issues, constipation, a feeling of tingling around the body, increased pain levels in the body, lymphatic issues, muscle and fascia tightness, and restriction.
Without good hydration, you are not taking away the toxins that build up in your system, and you are not bringing good fresh oxygen and nutrition to areas that need it. Water makes the joints smooth with movement and is vital in the body's range of motion. Dehydration has the capacity to make pain worse. Studies have shown this, especially regarding lower back and spine pain. The intervertebral discs are a cushion between each vertebra of the spine, which is largely made up of water. If you are dehydrated, this cushion is no longer effective, decreasing the suspension for your spine and increasing pain in the lower back and thoracic.
The formula to calculate your required water intake per day is: Your body weight X 0.03 = The number of litres you need per day
Four practical ways forward
1. Kundalini yoga and meditation, or supervised breath work sessions
A somatic practice that links the mind, body & soul. Kundalini yoga and meditation classes apply practical tools for you to move through the natural process of the mind, which opens you to your higher self. It helps balance and raise your energy, which prepares the body to allow your energy to rise so you can experience your higher consciousness.
2. Explore and work with your energetics
Working with the body's chakra system is an influential piece when looking at the body holistically. This system of consciousness directly affects an individual's daily life through the behaviour, beliefs, and attitudes of the primary focused or polarised chakra. Our energetic foundations are the most important place to start the healing process, as if you do not have a solid foundation, your base is not stable enough for you to grow and expand. Ensuring that our lower chakras are balanced creates stability, security, and trust with our physical needs in life. When we are energetically balanced, we are empowered, compassionate, conscious, and grounded. From this space, you can have coherence and clarity so you can move forward confidently. What we vibrate, we attract.
3. Have fascia release
Have regular Myofascial Release so that you do not become 'stuck' in a specific frequency, mental pattern, or posture dysfunction.
4. Explore root causes with therapies and awareness techniques
Root-Cause Therapy is a trauma healing method that uses regression to allow the completion of unprocessed emotions that are still present, causing unwanted thoughts, behaviours, and symptoms. This modality has advanced ways of testing and discovering the actual causation of the currently presenting unease within oneself, which could be reflecting itself through negative life patterns and choices. This modality uses the self-healing mechanisms of the deeper parts of your mind in an empowering, safe container.
Turn towards you
Bringing awareness to our senses, like pain, and allowing them to have space can alleviate the pressure of feeling restricted, stuck, and unable to function in life. It may not always take the sensation away completely, however, when we direct and breathe love and compassion towards the parts that are hurting us the most, we can feel a slight expansion which leads to more ease, calm, and peace.
Carly is an Advanced practitioner who has a holistic outlook when working with her clients. She is a Reiki Master & Energy Worker, Root-Cause Therapist, Kundalini Teacher, Advanced Remedial Massage Therapist (Myotherapist) / Body alignment specialist & Lymphatic Drainage Practitioner. Her main mission is to assist others in finding their own inner power & self-healing abilities so they can restore harmony, balance, & peace both in their body & life.
You can book a session via: remedialmovement.com.au
Or reach out to discuss options via email: carly@remedial movement.com.au
Read more from Carly Allen
Carly Allen, Root-Cause Therapist and Integrative Bodywork Specialist
Through her service, Carly is a lighthouse for individuals seeking to navigate their way out of pain/darkness and into their highest potential/freedom. She believes that physical body pain, conditions & circumstances tend to have deeper meaning in an individual's life. By addressing all layers of a being, it presents an opportunity to view troubling aspects from a different perspective and can shift trapped pain from our physical life and body. Empowering an individual to take back their power and to truly gain balance in their life positively affects them and those around them, which can have a ripple effect spanning across time and space.
References:
Breathwork Interventions for Adults with Clinically Diagnosed Anxiety Disorders: A Scoping Review - PMC
Lumbar disc rehydration after dynamic stabilization: A systematic review: PMC (PDF) Intra and Extrafibrillar Fluid Exchange in the Disc
