Touch is the best medicine for relieving pain
Posted on August 6th, 2008 in Healing, Holistic Health, Nervous System | 2 Comments »
An article in Prevention highlights that when we are rejected by other human beings, our brain registers it the same way as physical pain. An experiment conducted at UCLA tracked that when players were rejected by other unseen players during a computer game, their Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) lit up just as if they were physically injured.
The takeaway is that our brain does not know the difference between social and physical pain, in that either experience is potentially harmful to the organism and thus is actively avoided. In the past, when our human society was much more in need of each other to protect ourselves from the elements and other predators, it meant death to be rejected and ostracized from our community. Today that old wiring remains and gets set-off when we receive a social snub from another.
In my experience of working with clients, a physical injury can lead to long term problems, like limping, joint pain, splinting, and avoiding or limiting use. Similarly, emotional pain, whether experienced from their family, schoolmates, work, or other social situations, is remembered as painful and cause long-term effects and patterns. These individuals have learned that others are not safe to be around because they may cause them pain. This emotional pain pattern creates fear and expectations that have a dramatic impact on their ability to live freely and thrive.
It is extraordinary to think that both ends of the spectrum can make life unbearable for human beings: living without people or living WITH people! But it remains true that if emotional pain patterns of rejection, judgment, low self-esteem, and other negative ways of being get established early on, than the individual is left to suffer with the belief that people are not to be trusted. You can imagine how that affects their ability to feel love, safety and freedom in partnerships, family, work, and more.
Bodywork has the extraordinary capability of diffusing these patterns while affirming an individual’s sense of well-being and personal safety. In receiving consistent, therapeutic, and supportive touch, a direct communication is received by the deepest layers of subconscious, that humans CAN be trusted and that the client is worthy of feeling good and being accepted. It is a joy to work with individuals who are initially hesitant or even fearful of deeper intimacy and connection, who over time and consistent effort, find they open up “in spite” of themselves. Touch has an ability to circumvent the beliefs of the mind and interrupt thinking patterns that might otherwise try to avoid social contact and vulnerability with others. Touch speaks louder than any words as its impact and energy can be immediately felt and embodied.
Remember too, that as an infant, we are completely dependent on our mother to provide loving nurturing touch and connection. It is a deep human need to be loved, accepted, and encouraged by touch. In fact, studies infants not regularly touched (say at orphanages) show that these children have delays in neurological function and sociability.
As was mentioned in the article, biochemically, touch releases endorphins to assist with relieving pain (it is exactly why we rub injured areas). Additionally, nerve impulses that send “good” feelings are mylentated and thus “out-run” the impulses that carry pain signals. In my experience of working with people of all ages and backgrounds, bodywork’s ability to leave everyone feeling good, safe, stable, and “grounded” in their body and over time in relationship to others is very effective, regardless of whether the pain is physical or emotional.
