Functional disharmony

I wanted to take a step away from my normal focus to write about a condition I call functional disharmony. It usually occurs when a person has a chronic condition that they have gotten used to over time. I first noticed it in a patient in his early 20's who had severe back pain. His pulses did not point to any clear imbalance, and when I treated him, his body felt very healthy. In fact, aside from the back pain, he told me that he was in great health.

But when I put my hands on his back, in the area of pain, I found that his body had re-routed the channels around the area of pain, and had returned to a normal level of function. The problematic area had been isolated so that the body could continue to function.

The first step of the treatment was to reconnect the area to the rest of his body. Unfortunately, this increased his pain, or at least his awareness of the pain, and he discontinued treatment. This illustrates the need to set expectations with a client as well as making him aware of all possible outcomes. In subsequent times when I've seen a similar situation, I let the patient know that they might experience an increase in their symptoms as part of the treatment. Once they understand what is going to happen, they are usually fine with it.

Only when the body becomes aware of the pain and reconnects with the problematic area can treatment be effective.

Photo courtesy of mouton.rebelle