Dealing with chronic symptoms could turn out to be an intense mind game. When we feel pain in the body, it’s natural to think that there’s something wrong on a purely physical level. But this isn’t always the case.

In fact, for around 90% of persistent symptoms that don’t resolve with conventional treatment, the solution lies elsewhere: in our thoughts and perceptions about our own body, and how these are reflected through our symptoms. The old term for this process was psychosomatic, although today we prefer to use the terms Tension Myositis Syndrome or Neuroplastic Pain.

It is hard to sell the idea that there’s nothing to fix to a person with chronic pain or symptoms. Very hard. But hang on with me for a moment. The idea isn’t new; it’s just widely unacknowledged.

From John Sarno to Science-backed Research

The doctor of Rehabilitation Dr John Sarno, whose books have have sold thousands of copies and are famous for healing people from chronic pain, was one of the first Western doctors in the twentieth century to insist that with most cases of chronic pain, there is nothing wrong with the body itself.

Instead, common conditions like unresolved back pain, sciatica, tendonitis and even more widespread conditions such as fibromyalgia are fuelled by negative emotions that arise due to trauma, repressed anger, resentment or general life dissatisfaction. Mental health problems like anxiety or depression often present themselves alongside the manifestation of more physical symptoms, which also goes to show that there is an emotional element at play.

Since Sarno’s time, research has proven his theory true. Individuals displaying highly activated brain regions on MRI scans tend to experience more chronic pain (Katherene T. Martucci et al.); these brain regions are those where we process strong emotions, such as fear and anger. Those individuals with a history of trauma are also more likely to develop chronic conditions in adulthood (André Bussières et al.) This all goes to show that, although we feel pain and symptoms in the body, the original cause lies elsewhere - in the brain.

And this is what I mean here when I say that there is nothing to ‘fix’. Your body, with all its imperfections, is probably ok, unless you’ve recently fallen off a ladder or caught an exotic virus!

However, there is something you can ‘fix’, if you’d like to put it that way. And that is your perception of pain.

For as long as you think of your body as being weak, damaged or broken, you are actually activating those regions in the brain where you experience fear, frustration and helplessness; very toxic emotions that are themselves creating tension and inflammation in the body. A process of conditioning takes place, which makes the symptoms stronger and more present.

But what if we start sending ourselves a different message?

How I ‘fixed’ my elbow tendonitis by letting go of the ‘fix it’ mindset

Here’s a personal story I like to share on this subject. When I had my elbow tendonitis I thought it was a climbing injury that was taking very long to heal. Reading that it’s common among climbers didn’t help of course; it just made it more believable. It would hurt while climbing, and also while doing other day to day stuff like picking up an object with my arm outstretched.

Thinking that I could ‘fix’ this in some way, I went on to do some recommended exercises that some people were raving about on YouTube. The result was that my pain increased tenfold.

The reason for this is that I had bought into the idea that my elbow needed fixing, when I should have known better. I knew that I was prone to getting mindbody symptoms when I was going through a stressful and dissatisfying time (and that period had been quite tough!). I also should have known that injuries tend to heal with time, and don’t present themselves so inconsistently as my elbow did (I had bad days and better days, I had weird symptoms that popped up and changed, and the pain was a bit ‘over the top’; my elbow would hurt even if I sneezed!).

But instead, by trying to ‘fix’ it, I was drilling the idea into my head that my elbow was damaged. That’s what made it worse.

Luckily, I soon had a revelation. I was having a bad pain day (holding onto anything lightly would trigger intense pain). But that same evening, we decided to go to visit a very sick person in hospital. We went down into this basement ward, where we found several people on the brink of death. The environment was heavy and sad, and I knew just by looking at some of the patients that they wouldn’t live for much longer. My attention was suddenly very much in the present moment, with the dying, and I felt a strong shift in my mental state; a sense of being grounded, engulfed in compassion and sadness.

In short, I walked out of the hospital pain free. I had totally forgotten about my elbow. On the way back, I realized that I’d been buying into the idea of weakness with regard to it. But there was nothing wrong, except my perception and beliefs about what was causing the elbow pain! It wasn’t possible that a serious structural issue would simply ‘disappear’ because my mental state shifted, as it did at the hospital. And so I decided to be firm in this new belief and set the intention of doing absolutely nothing to try and fix my elbow or to control symptoms in any way.

And that was the end of my 5-month long tendonitis symptoms. There was some lingering pain that evening, and by the next day it had all disappeared, just like that!

Let go of the belief you need to ‘fix’ yourself!

I see so many individuals who are stuck with pain just because they believe there might be something wrong with their bodies. Sadly, this is what medical advertisements and society at large has us believe; we are so ready to blame pain on a structural cause, because it makes logical sense, and we are scared to consider an emotional reason because maybe that might mean there’s something very wrong with us.

But if you’ve had chronic symptoms for a long time, it can’t be all ‘structural’. It is permanent mental patterns that create permanent physical symptoms. And one of the most damaging thought pattern is that of believing that one’s body is weak, or ‘no good’. Through this belief, we give our painful areas very negative attention, which actually increases the tension in that same area.

There is no better way of releasing that tension and the pain it creates than by letting go of the urge to fix our body. Urgency and despair create tension. But if we substitute them with acceptance and a new empowering belief - that our body is essentially ok - then we release all the tension. Try it - you might even feel the effects instantly!

And before I conclude, I cannot stress enough how important educating yourself about the mindbody connection is for healing. Once you know what’s going on, and you let go of fearing your body, anything is possible. So if you’re new to this subject, check out my other MindBody Healing Resources on this website, or consider my comprehensive Recovery Program.

I wish you all the best in your healing journey!