Therapy for Back Pain
Are you suffering with ongoing back pain?
Exhausted by chronic pain?
Have you tried a range of different treatments, but nothing seems to have really helped in the long term?
Do you have a sense that your back pain may be related to other things going on in your life?
If so, I might be able to help.
I offer psychotherapy to help people address the emotional and psychological factors that may be contributing to their chronic back pain.
Research and experience shows that talking therapy can be an effective addition to a wider support plan including physical therapies and medication.
Awareness, Acceptance & Action
In my therapy and counselling, I work with a model of support based on awareness, acceptance and action:
The information below is offered as an invitation to start exploring the journey of awareness, the possibility of acceptance and potential action now and in the future.
I don’t just have a theoretical understanding of working with chronic back pain, but also have lived experience, and also share my own journey below.
The Interaction of the Body and the Mind
“When the mind is ill at ease, the body suffers.”- Ovid, 10BC
There is a growing body of scientific research revealing the complex interaction of body and mind on the experience of back pain. This includes a growing understanding of the nature of pain, which is much less to do with structural injury than commonly believed and assumed.
This research has been put into practice through the work of medical professionals such as John Sarno, David Hanscom, and Howard Schubiner.
They all highlight the importance of treating chronic back pain as a holistic condition that involves both physical and psychological factors. They suggest that it is by addressing the emotional and psychological components of chronic pain, that patients may be able to achieve long-term relief from their symptoms.
This includes pain education about the mind-body connection, followed by exploring and processing repressed emotions, such as anger and anxiety, which John Sarno believed to be a widespread cause of chronic back pain. Similarly, David Hanscom, a spine surgeon based in Seattle, Washington, and Howard Schubiner, a clinical professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine, both advocate techniques and approaches reducing stress and anxiety, and also childhood trauma.
Sound overwhelming? I totally get it.
I have both the lived experience of chronic back pain, and also the experience of being helped through the process of getting my life back on track.
My story
My backpain story starts in 2018.
It started when I was putting a large chair into a small car. In the process of jamming it in, I made a twist in my back and felt something go. I was going on holiday to New York the next day and I was determined not to let this get in the way. However, during my stay in the Big Apple, I started to deteriorate. Initially I tried to ignore the pain and push through with gentle back stretches and over the counter pain killers. But nothing seemed to work, and I ended up fainting on the street. I cut my trip short and came back to the UK and embarked a long series of appointments and treatments to try and alleviate the pain.
Nothing seemed to work. I was in agony and had trouble sleeping, walking and working. I was diagnosed with a prolapsed disc between L4 and L5, with a nerve impingement resulting in chronic sciatica. After an ill-timed house move, I had a period of being near house bound for close to 6 months. Having been fit and healthy, and a regular hiker in the Downs, I couldn’t even walk around my block. I also couldn’t sit, and either had to kneel on all fours or lie on my back with an elaborate set of cushions and support.
Initially resistant to taking the prescription pain killers offered by my GP, I gave in, with the promise that they should help reduce the pain so that I could start moving again, which would kick start the healing process. However, they didn’t seem to work.
EXPLORING HOLISTIC HEALTH
It was then that I visited a well-regarded Osteopath and Back Pain Clinic in Brighton and Hove that things started to change. It was the first time someone had explored my holistic health and asked questions about what was going on in my life. The truth was that in several areas there had been significant stress and anxiety. Relationship breakup, broken dreams, work challenges, and concerns about the health of family members were all in the mix.
I was set on my multipronged treatment journey which included manual treatments, an MRI, pain relief, stress reduction and education around pain relief.
Despite the MRI revealing a disc rupture, I also learnt that a large number of the population have similar structural issues but never feel any pain. Conversely, some people in huge amounts of pain show no MRI abnormalities and there is no structural explanation.
This did not make me feel better. Somehow this information made me feel that I was making it all up. That it was all in my head, adding to my frustration and sense of powerlessness and despair.
LEARNING ABOUT PAIN & THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
Despite this, I continued to follow the advice to educate myself about the nature of pain, including learning about the work of Professor Peter O’Sullivan and Dr David Hanscom.
I was also learning that stress and anxiety can play a big part in back pain. The recommendation was to engage in a deep breathing exercise: breathing into my belly (raising a weight on my tummy) and taking a longer exhale. This process was to help engage the parasympathetic nervous system and help turn off my fight / flight response which felt like it was stuck.
I was also recommended the book: Back in Control: A Surgeon’s Roadmap Out of Chronic Pain (2016) by David Hanscom.
In this book, Spinal Surgeon David Hanscom lays out the programme he uses with patients before they embark on spinal surgery. It is so successful that many of them don’t end up electing for surgery after all. He acknowledges the complex interaction of the body and the mind. And outlines the need for a holistic approach, addressing not only physical symptoms, but also the emotional and psychological factors that can contribute to chronic pain.
ADDRESSING EMOTIONAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
Dr. Hanscom starts by exploring the source of pain and pain pathways and also the role of anxiety and sleep (or lack of sleep).
The second step is to address the emotional and psychological factors that can contribute to chronic pain. He argues that chronic pain is often a result of unprocessed emotions, anger, stress, and negative thought patterns, and that addressing these factors is essential for effective pain management.
He recommends a range of emotional and psychological interventions to help patients address the emotional and psychological factors that may be contributing to their pain. These interventions include:
• prioritising sleep
• processing stress
• developing greater self-awareness
• facilitating neuroplasticity and new brain pathways
• understanding and learning to regulate our nervous system
• addressing childhood trauma
• forgiveness
• introducing more play
• expressive writing
• mindfulness meditation
getting help
I was excited about the possibility of change, but also felt overwhelmed.
I was already exhausted from the pain itself and not in a positive headspace. I knew that I needed help, and probably from a therapist. Ideally from someone who really got it. I was looking for someone who would be able to help me process with the emotional and psychological things going on, without negating or minimising the reality of my physical pain.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find someone at the time, and that is why I decided to embark on my own therapy training, so that I would be in a position to companion and support others who are going through something similar challenges with chronic back pain.
MY Approach: toolbox + deeper dive
I offer one to one therapy and counselling sessions tailored to your unique needs and desired outcomes.
In the sessions we can work together to develop a personalised toolbox to immediately support you with your chronic back pain. This is also combined with a deeper dive over the longer term, to address areas from the past that might be holding you back and keeping you stuck.
resources to get you started
Feel Better, Live More Podcast: How To Heal Chronic Pain with Dr Howard Schubiner
This podcast with Dr. Rangan Chatterjee comes highly recommended as a good starting point to explore pain and how to start healing it. At over 2 hours it is long, but I would suggest highly worth it! Here is an overview:
In this podcast episode, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee speaks with Dr. Howard Schubiner, Director of the Mind Body Medicine Center in Michigan, about how chronic pain is created by the brain, and how changing our narrative on pain can help alleviate it. Dr. Schubiner explains that chronic pain is often caused by neural pathways created by the brain that remember the pain, and that stress and emotions can activate the same pain centers in the brain as an injury. He discusses his revolutionary therapies, which have been proven to work with chronic pain, depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, and long Covid. The conversation also covers the role of healthcare practitioners, posture, cultural differences in pain experience, and complementary therapies. The podcast aims to bring awareness to the power of the brain and how changing our narrative on pain can be life-changing.