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Posted on 6/26/2014 by Dr. Martha E. Rich |
 In my practice, I treat many patients who suffer from chronic pain. Malocclusion, or a misaligned bite, can stress the facial muscles, compress and malform the TMJ, and cause a great deal of pain in the jaw joints, face, head, ears, and neck. But in all the years I've been treating TMJ and chronic pain, I've never seen a patient who's sole source of pain was exclusively from a bad bite or compressed joints. Chronic pain is nearly always multifactorial. There may be a primary underlying cause, but lifestyle habits and stress levels can not only crank up the volume on an existing condition like TMD, but also create a great deal of pain all on their own.Many patients we work with have travelled a long journey trying to understand the clinical reasons for their pain. They have visited doctor after doctor, receiving different diagnoses, treatments, and medications. Some even undergo surgery in an effort to find some kind of relief, yet still they have pain. Unfortunately, many of these patients we work with are often completely unaware of how their own lifestyle habits and stress levels could be hindering their ability to heal. This is not the patient's fault. As healthcare practitioners, it is our job to help patients understand not only what we can do to help them, but perhaps more importantly what they can do every day to help themselves. No doctor can possibly understand what it feels like to be in your body better than you. Pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong. With a little time and careful listening, many patients can uncover physical habits and lifestyle choices that create or exacerbate their pain all on their own. Doctors can run tests and take x-rays, but a doctor does not live with you 24-7. Only you know that every time you skip breakfast, you end up with a headache. Or that every time you do a particular weight-bearing exercise, your teeth and jaw ache afterwards. Or that every interaction you have with a co-worker, friend or family member seems to trigger a migraine. Just by paying attention to when your body experiences pain and what is happening in and around that moment, you can gather more information about the possible triggers for your pain than any doctor ever could. Now, can another person actually cause you physical pain just through conversation? Probably not, but the stress of that conversation may cause you to clench your teeth, tighten your shoulders, and breathe more shallowly. All of those things will definitely give you a doozy of a headache. Medication may help in the short term, but the ultimate cure for that kind of pain is to learn how to interact differently with the people in your life who cause you stress, or to eliminate those relationships altogether if possible. Medication can not do that for you, but practical tools do exist to help you manage relationship stress and decrease its effect on your physical body. Pain is not a comfortable experience for anyone. It is not meant to be. Your body is trying to get your attention. Listen, look inward, and try to understand its message. You may be surprised at how much information you will receive. In order to help you do just that, this month I have created a tool that will allow you to see more clearly the many messages your body is trying to send you through your pain. The Daily Headache Diary is a tool for you to use in conjunction with the entire Headache Series. By tracking your diet, medications, and answering a series of questions each day about your habits, you will begin to see if there are any patterns in your daily or weekly routine that regularly coincide with headache pain. That information is incredibly valuable. Even if you do not know what to do with it right away, keep listening, share your new understandings with your treating physicians, and try some of the simple adjustments suggested in the Headache Series to see how much headache pain you can reduce or eliminate all on your own. We are each our own best healers when it comes to chronic pain. Trust your body. It does not lie. By the way, this is also a helpful tool for other types of pain.  |
