Help For The Helper
Putting Others First
Being a medical professional means putting others first in your daily work is the default. It does, however make some vulnerable to overload when they continue that intent at times when they should be making more time for themselves. This creates the environment where pain or symptoms start to appear and where the perfect storm for persistent pain can arise.
Here’s a follow-up message for a medical professional who experienced persistent low back pain and started seeing the truth about the pain.
It was lovely to meet you today.
You have experienced the perfect storm that many encounter who develop chronic pain patterns.
None of this was your fault, nor have you done anything wrong in your recovery attempts.
You have lots of evidence to see how various factors, including age-related changes, can manifest as pain in the pattern they have with you.
‘Wired’ Muscles
You can now see how wired the muscles of the right side of your back have been, even without LBP. These hold the starting point of protection for whenever you're going to 'push hard' again.
It's very counterintuitive not to push hard when that's been a default in life which has brought success.
The thing about pain is that it requires some discernment and rationale to check that the behaviour is correct for the circumstance.
Having a belief about pain being predominantly based on the structure is a place I've gotten stuck before and is an easy illusion to follow when we've been trained in a biomedical model of care.
Even if we have some awareness of psychosocial factors, it can be challenging for this to register when it manifests in ourselves.
Feel Reassured
You should feel reassured that you have no sinister pathology to be concerned about, and even the changes in age should be celebrated as signs of a life lived rather than elements to fear or feel frustrated about.
If you feel comfortable with this, reframe, and then you can start to overinvest in calm regulation of nervous systems behaviours like the breathing technique on the link below.
And lumbar knee rolls and extensions are outward expressions of your clear intent to look after your body gently.
It is no more compassion than you share with your patients, and we're asking if you'd consider the same filter for yourself.
Habituate Small Behaviours
Suppose you habituate these small behaviours at home and work. In that case, you'll soon be able to add to the swimming and other adrenalin-based exciting activities but phasing their introduction sequentially no more than three times a week.
If you think about recovery from physical injury as taking three months, then setting aside a similar timeframe for nervous system recovery and reintegration into what is patently a busy life, it's a sensible approach that you would find hard to disagree with rationally.
Historically High Standards
It may not hold up to the historically high standards that you've set for yourself. Still, as you recover from this situation, it's time to soften the focus on those expectations in a way that presents that exciting life with a greater sense of balance, care and kindness to yourself.
Let me know how you get on, and please get in touch with me if I can help further.
Kind regards
Drew
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