Hurts and Injuries

Read a great article about sports injuries - The Big Hurt by Benjamin H. Cheever in Runner's World, August 2009.

Ouch, this put it into perspective! The author talks about trying to recover from running injuries - what he used and didn't use, everything he tried. There are many good quotes and stories, read the article, but one hit me -- he was visiting Dr. John Sarno, author of Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection:

"Rage collects in the unconscious, and then the brain helps take your mind off of this by giving you a hurt. Dr. Sarno said that when my piriformis began acting up, I should try to think about what is really bothering me. 'Take it from the physical ball park and into the psychological', he said to me."

I believe this to be true, not only in my life, but I see it in my clients' as well. People bottle up their emotions or shove things under the carpet and expect that their body doesn't know what is going on. Then, they experience an injury and have a hard time getting over it. They may feel better, but the issue is still there and sometimes they can be injured over and over again and still not get the original problem solved. I love that phrase "what is really bothering me". When I work with women who reach a plateau, I say something similar to them, but "what is holding you back?" There are so many EMOTIONAL issues and problems that manifest themselves into your physical bodies.

I remember back in 2001 when I was losing my weight and frustrated at a plateau and my trainer Jeremy Likness told me "Sandi, unless you get this fixed [my problem], you will not lose any weight". I always remember that because that's when I made the decision to GET IT FIXED, to stop overlooking my true feelings and to stop shoving things under the carpet. And of course, I starting losing the weight, 70 lbs. of it.

I encourage you, if you are hurting, whether constant or sporadic, to look at your emotional side and see what is really bothering you. It's worth it, it was to me!