Chronically painful muscles often have some form of emotional conflict as part of the root cause. Our bodies often will on one hand want to express an emotion or feeling, and on the other hand, quickly jump in and inhibit that impulse. The muscles that are active in that expression have to deal with conflicting signals from the neuromuscular system, creating stress. Over time this stress builds up creating chronic pain and stiffness. An example that many of us experience to some degree is when we want to say something but stop ourselves from doing so. This may be the smart, practical thing to do, but over time the inhibited impulses can jam the muscles of the throat and diaphragm, which can develop into chronic neck pain and breathing restrictions. This can also be expressed as a clenched jaw, biting the tongue so to speak, which then develops into chronic and painful Temporal Mandibular joint problems. Another common example results from when we feel, but can’t easily express our anger. We may not even know that our shoulders are dealing with an impulse to strike out or push away while dealing with a strong inhibition of that impulse. We then feel the jammed muscles as pain and tension in the shoulders, between the shoulder blades, and perhaps up to the base of the skull. This pain might persist and never fully release no matter what we do to try to relax it.
During bodywork, a memory of an incident or relationship can float up from our subconscious which we might talk about or just take notice of. Just the act of remembering usually results in a spontaneous opening up of tightly held muscles, which up until then had resisted any change. Quite often when looking back on these conflicts they seem logical and simple, sometimes even humorous, rarely too intense or uncomfortable to deal with. Other times these stresses can resolve without anything at all floating into awareness, just a sense of releasing and reorganizing. Bodywork by itself or complementing other therapies can make chronic pain heal faster, or provide the added energy needed to get a healing process moving again. With trauma and abuse a multi-therapy approach including bodywork can make working through painful issues go much quicker. For some personality types, bodywork is the most suitable primary modality for personal growth and physical healing.
In my practice, I find that even muscle pain caused by injuries can have emotional aspects, especially if healing is progressing slowly. Emotional vulnerabilities create weak areas in the body where accidents are more prone to happen. For example, someone who feels unsupported in some significant area of their life may have chronic foot problems. When they get injured, it always seems like the feet play a part. It is as if the feet express the instability or lack of support that they feel in other areas of their lives. Just working on the soft tissue of the feet without helping release the experience of lack of support probably will not produce permanent change. These cyclical patterns where the physical experience reinforces the emotional experience which again validates the physical experience can be difficult to break out of without help. In my personal and clinical experience, releasing the emotions carried in soft tissue not only provides greater physical freedom and flexibility but also emotional freedom to experience life in new ways. Often pain is the motivation that drives us into actively seeking out solutions to heal chronic problems. The benefits and discoveries we make along the journey can go beyond specific health goals to encompass our overall sense of well-being, release from old patterns, and access to joy.