When will the pain go away?
It takes about nine months for a human being to be fully formed and developed into a healthy baby. That’s anywhere from 38 to 42 weeks gestation. That’s most of a year! With that in mind, we can imagine how much cellular activity and growth is happening inside that baby in the womb. Growth, development, healing, and repair take a lot of time inside the human body. If we take a look at how long it takes for two cells, an egg and a sperm to combine, divide, and then grow into a human being, we can begin to comprehend how our bodies continue to grow, heal, and reorganise.
Most people who walk into my office seeking my services come because they are in pain. It could be acute sudden pain, or chronic pain they’ve had for years. Either way, they have taken the steps to get help so the pain can go away and they can feel ‘back to normal’. The most common question I get is, “How long will it take for the pain to go away?” and it’s not an easy question to answer.
Pain is like the smoke alarm in your house that goes “Alert! Alert!”. Something is burning and you need to extinguish it, or just take the batteries out to stop the loud noise. We have this illusion that we are healthy if we feel no pain or discomfort. We think everything is fine. “Yes, I’m FINE.” But, how do you know? Are you really fine? Then, when you do have pain, you take notice and you become aware of something that isn’t exactly fine anymore. So what do you do? Most people just wait it out because it’s probably nothing and it’ll go away on it’s own. That happens especially when that pain is the first time you’ve had it. Our bodies are amazing, resilient, and self-healing, so for the most part, yes, the pain will go away on its own.
But what if the pain doesn’t really go away entirely? Or it does, but 6 months later, it comes back and it’s even worse? What do you do then? We seek out a professional to ‘fix’ the problem, and usually the main goal is to get out of pain.
Have you ever asked yourself what happens when the pain is gone? When the pain goes away, does that mean that everything is fine? When we feel pain, we realise something isn’t right. We think, “What’s wrong? What could be causing this?” But when there is no more pain, we suddenly forget because most of the time we feel better and we’re able to go about our normal lives.
It is important to understand that once the pain is gone, your body is always and still continuously healing, adapting, and regulating every system together. Pain is only a small part of how the nervous system functions. Your pain nerves are triggered, the messages are sent to the brain, which cause you to become uncomfortably aware of those pain sensations. It’s the alarm in your body to tell you to do something, to change your daily routine, to rest, sleep, take a break, slow down, and take care of yourself. What if your body didn’t do that? How could you continue to go at the fast pace that you live your life? Is that really sustainable?
What happens when the pain doesn’t go away in a few weeks? People who start chiropractic care in my office want to feel better fast. We all want that. But sometimes the pain doesn’t go away, or it travels to another part of the body, and you’re still coping with a state of discomfort. Regular chiropractic adjustments are not a ‘fix-it’ solution. If you have that way of thinking, your expectations will not be met and you’ll probably be disappointed. When you choose to start chiropractic care, the goal is to allow your body the time it takes to heal. The critical issue is to learn the cause of your pain. If you only focus on the actual pain and not what led you to your state of health, then you will never fully heal.
Have you ever had an argument with someone, especially with your significant other, and during the heated and emotional interaction, you suddenly realise that it’s not actually about what you’re both talking about? That argument you’re having is actually about something that happened to you years ago? It’s brought up very real and familiar feelings from something that happened to you when you were much younger. Well, that's almost the same thing that happens within your body. The pain you’re experiencing is just pain. But take a look at what the pain is all about. It tells a story. And you need to break that story apart and find the core to what is causing it. Once you grasp that, you will understand the process to find a new level of health and feeling well.
Having pain is unfortunately a common thing in today’s world. But it’s not normal. The natural state of being healthy and well is a life without pain, weakness, and feeling sick. Our bodies are resilient, adaptive, and self-healing. You must allow the time it takes for your body to reorganise in order to heal properly. Sometimes that might take weeks; sometimes it can take months.
Have patience. Allow yourself time to pause, rest, and heal. You will discover new levels of health upon embracing that.
— Dr MaryAnne.