I continue to be amazed at the intricacy of connections both at the micro (human body) and the macro (global) levels. In my Change, Transition, and Transformation Series, I wrote about the ways our physical, emotional and mental selves are interconnected and need to be aligned and in balance. And, I wrote specifically about how all the parts of the body are interconnected as well.
A recent experience of mine brought to mind again how injury to one part of the body eventually leads to additional injury to other parts of the body. This got me to thinking about the impact of injuries at the national and global level as well.
In my case, my original injury was the result of falling on ice last December and breaking my left elbow. It was a slight fracture so I didn’t need a cast and only had to wear a sling for a few weeks. And, since I’m right-handed, I could pretty much keep functioning. For the first few weeks, everything seemed OK. The extent of the damage wasn’t apparent until later.
During the time that my left arm was in a sling, I was able to use only my right arm. One day, as I was rotating the wheel of my car with my right arm in order to parallel park it, I got a stabbing pain in my right shoulder joint. In over-using my right arm as a result of the injury on my left elbow, I ended up tearing something in my shoulder joint (my labrum to be exact).
It gets more complicated. As a result of the injury to my shoulder, all the muscles surrounding the shoulder area tightened up. It got to the point that the area became so inflamed and tight that physical therapy had no impact on it.
So, I went to my trusty structural integration expert, Scott Baker. Scott does deep tissue massage that works on both the muscles and connective tissues in the body. Scott’s work not only helps to relieve pain but also serves to re-align the body. Scott’s work helped a lot with some of the pain but didn’t seem to be able to loosen the tightest spot on my back near my shoulder blade. Then, one morning I woke up with my neck in such pain, I could barely turn my head and went to see Dr. Lou, my chiropractor.
In my earlier story, I went to Dr. Lou and found I had to go see Scott for deep tissue massage because of the interaction between the tightness of my muscles and the alignment of my spine. In that case, a misalignment in my spine had caused tension and pain in my muscles.
In this this case, the shoulder injury caused the tightening of the muscles, which ended up pulling my neck and spine out of joint, resulting in the continued tightness and inflammation of the muscles. Talk about interconnections! So, the first injury to my elbow, which had apparently healed, left additional injuries in its wake that needed to be healed as well.
Just as our muscles and our spines are interconnected, so too as humans we are interconnected as part of the Quilt of Humanity.
Read about injury and healing at the national and global levels in Part 2 of the Interconnections: Injury, Reparation, and Realignment Series
You are lucky to have such a good chiropractor to help you with these things, but I think that your essay only touches part of the story because you didn’t talk about psychological or neuro emotional issues. To make this brief, when your body is injured, no doubt your mood and mental state suffer which takes it’s toll on your personal relationships and performance at work. Imagine if the president of the United States sits down for a meeting with an enemy, and one of these people has a pounding headache. Chances are that nothing productive will occur, but if both have a chiropractor of Dr. Lou’s caliber, (shameless promotion) maybe the world will have one less tension.
Gideon,
No question but that there are psychological and neuro emotional issues as well and there are strong connections between one’s physical and emotional states.
In fact, I actually dealt with that in a much earlier entry in the Changes, Transitions and Transformation Series and will be talking about psychological injuries later in this Series.
Thanks,
Deb
Deb,
You are so right about Interconnections:Injuries and Healing at the Micro Level. As a former athlete and dancer, I have experienced injury and healing (in that order) over the years.
Recently, I have experienced injury and healing from a mental and spiritual place. These injuries affect my physical being–back aches, heart pains, knee pain, neck cramps, sleepless nights, stress, worries, lack of meditation, no concentration, and a costly injury is loosing important itens and money. Sometimesthese things are related to a physical injury and while healing, a emotional or spiritual injury takes over to compensate for the physical and vise versa.
As I continue to heal, I am reminded by your story that a more active awareness of the different parts of myself have to heal “in concert” with each area so that I stay balanced. Because I know that there are injuries I have no control to prevent and may need to continue to heal for a long time. Sometimes I feel that I am doing well other times I feel like a failure; however, I keep going–to stop is to die and I am not ready to die, anymore.
This is my challenge, to stay balanced mind, body, and spirit. Peace
Monty,
I’m sending you love and best wishes for your ongoing healing journey. It is a constant and lifelong challenge to find and maintain balance.
Much love,
Deb