Sat Nav for Pain – Chronic Pain Movement Strategies.
A few years ago, on a wet miserable winter night somewhere in North Yorkshire I was driving home, and the road ahead was blocked. I didn’t have Sat Nav, a map or any local knowledge and there were no other cars around. I had 2 options: sit there indefinitely and wait for the road to clear or turn down a dodgy looking B-road and try to muddle my way past.
Sitting there would have been painful and tedious so I chose the B-road. I got very lost, more frustrated and ended up back where I’d started 40 minutes later in a much worse mental state. Still with a long drive home ahead.
Living with pain is like the road ahead being blocked. We can either wait for the road to clear which is tedious and painful or develop alternative movement patterns and strategies often hampered by our bodies’ self-protection instincts. These ‘alternative’ movement patterns are rarely efficient and can get locked in overtime which can make things much worse.
Fortunately, though most people embarking on a long car journey these days have Sat Nav which can reroute if the road ahead is blocked, often with little disruption to our ETA. Good treatment for chronic pain is like good Sat Nav. An experienced eye will often see what you are doing and help you re-route effectively and efficiently. In fact, I’ve lost count of the number of chronic pain patients I’ve seen, who once they have found a way to re-route, have discovered that the problem they thought they had had has gone completely and their only problem was their dodgy movement strategies.
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