Recovery from plantar fasciitis using a mind-body approach.
Drew’s story — How finding the mind-body approach to recovery from chronic pain, breathed new life into his work as a physiotherapist, and healed his own foot pain in the process.
Why can’t I fix these people?
This was the question that Drew asked himself when time after time people showed up to his clinic with chronic pain. He was an experienced physiotherapist, with a high success rate, yet people with long-term symptoms baffled him. “I spent years and years studying up to a masters level and yet I couldn’t help around 15% of the people that came to me” he said. He began to question himself and his abilities. “Is it me? Am I doing something wrong?”
However, somewhere within him was a drive to seek answers, a drive that he describes as rising from his gut.
Whilst searching through literature and exploring content on-line his sister mentioned a technique based on hypnotherapy that was claiming to cure people in pain almost instantly. Despite finding these claims “incredulous” Drew was drawn to watching examples on the internet and was intrigued. He explained “I just couldn’t believe that this was true, but I followed my curiosity and signed up to a workshop anyway”.
Three months later he found himself “in a room full of alternative therapists, I was the only Physio in the room — I felt like an ugly duckling with my cynicism and ego” he joked. During the workshop he watched therapists, and their volunteer patients perform a routine involving a combination of talking and movement and repeatedly the patient’s pain would subside.
However, it didn’t work for everyone in the workshop, including the patient that Drew had taken along. He returned home, feeling a little deflated.
He recalled walking into the kitchen and describing his experience to his family.
His 17-year-old daughter had been listening inquisitively who at the time was suffering with pain in her neck, that she had struggled with since a trampoline accident 3 or 4 years earlier.
She asked if he would try the process with her.
Drew agreed and instructed her to turn her neck — she winced in pain as she tried to look over her shoulder. He then took her through the routine and was utterly amazed as “all of a sudden she was twisting her head like the girl from the exorcist” he said with a bemused grin. She was moving her head freely and without pain.
His 7yr old son also witnessed the event and asked, “how does that work Daddy?”
Drew continued in his quest to uncover the answer.
A hammer looking for a nail.
This is how Drew describes how he became with this new tool. He began to offer the method to anyone and everyone that entered his practice that he thought might be receptive to giving it a go. To his surprise patients were regularly experiencing a reduction in their pain!
Excited by what was happening he decided that he would contact pain experts, that he had not even met, in the hope of receiving some support to conduct a more formal experiment.
Following a few discussions that led to nothing, Drew found a professor that was equally fascinated and willing to work with him on a trial.
They took in 22 patients with chronic pain conditions and 15 of them walked away pain-free.
He explains that patients were experiencing “an epiphany that shifted the emotional charge associated with a belief that kept them in pain”. The procedure creates a new belief, and the body responds accordingly.
This confirmed for Drew that the mind was playing a far greater role in the experience of pain than he had ever anticipated and so continued to follow his curiosity.
Discovering the mind-body approach.
Drew continued to research the science behind this phenomenon and sought other health professionals that might be on a similar journey to him.
His efforts led him to another physiotherapist in the UK who was expanding on the work of an American physician called Dr Sarno.
Dr Sarno believed that chronic pain could be caused by un-resolved/repressed emotions, and he had contributed significantly to the rise of the mind-body approach to recovery. This approach used techniques such as educating patients on how their bodies were responding to stressful thoughts and emotions along with journaling exercises, that uncovered hidden emotions linked to life events.
The not-for-profit organisation Living Proof, who aim to promote the latest science regarding the mind-body approach explain on their website that:
“…chronic pain and many other persistent conditions are actually caused by nervous system dysregulation: they are learned responses to emotional or stress triggers, which have caused the brain and therefore nervous system to get stuck in ‘fight or flight’ mode, releasing stress chemicals into the body which create the physical symptoms”.
They also explain that recovery is possible:
“…chronic symptoms of this type can be reduced and often fully resolved through learning to retrain the brain and calm the nervous system. Through these methods, we can create new neural pathways in our brain, which then slows down the threat response which causes the symptoms”.
As Drew’s knowledge of the mind-body field grew and he shared experiences with other therapists that were early adopters of the approach, his skill in treating those patients with chronic symptoms continued to improve.
No-one is immune to mind-body symptoms.
Despite all his knowledge Drew found himself in pain.
He had begun to develop Plantar Fasciitis. A pain that often hinders runners had developed in his foot, it was persisting, and becoming progressively worse. Drew responded in the same way that many of his patients suffering with chronic pain had done. He ignored it, struggled onwards, and lost himself in his work.
Eventually it became so bad that he was regularly struggling to walk until “one day my wife stopped me in my tracks” he said.
She pointed out to him…
“Drew you have become obsessed with the science of pain and helping others, yet you can’t see the reason for your own pain staring you in the face”.
He knew she was right. He explained that at this moment in time, every-member of his family seemed to be facing some-sort of significant life challenge that he felt responsibility to help fix.
His physiotherapy business had become successful, and he was now over-seeing 6 clinics. He loved the work, but the business absorbed any spare energy that he had.
On top of this, his father was dying, and he was struggling with a challenging family dynamic.
One day, he noticed that when he was visiting his dad and interacting with family members his foot pain had subsided, but as soon as he left the house and sat in the car to go home, it returned with a vengeance!
This is when Drew finally accepted that his own pain was caused by his life stresses, thoughts and emotions.
He couldn’t ignore the signs any longer and went through a period of introspection.
Breaking the negative patterns.
Drew concluded that he needed to change.
“I knew I was going to have to break the pattern of physically pushing harder when I am experiencing emotional stress.”
He could see that throughout his childhood and professional career he used a physical challenge to distract himself from experiencing emotions. He was a grade A student had always been obsessed with winning and he believed he became addicted to the praise that was given to him for doing so.
As a youth, this focus on physical effort and desire to win led Drew to becoming a professional footballer, which he now understands reinforced his behaviour — working hard, winning, and being rewarded with praise.
Drew knew that he had to practice what he preached and put in a series of actions that would allow him to prioritise self-care “I realised I hadn’t allowed any-time at all for myself”.
He set in motion a plan to simplify his business and create enough time in his diary to focus on calming his nervous system. He allowed himself time to laugh, cry and grieve and sure enough managed to reverse the painful physical symptoms.
Physiotherapy with a new lens
The discovery of the mind-body approach to recovery has transformed Drew’s experience of practicing physiotherapy.
“This isn’t work…I love being involved in this field. It must have extended my career by a third at least” he said.
However, Drew explained that working with patients as a physiotherapist armed with the knowledge of mind-body science can also be quite challenging.
At first, he would listen to a patient talking about their life situation and would be itching to interrupt and shout, “I know what’s wrong, I know what’s wrong, it’s a mind-body thing!!!”
He explained that he had to develop the discipline to allow the people he was working with the space to express themselves.
He also had to learn to drop the frustration that arises when a patient or peer is not ready to hear the mind-body message, “I just have to let it go and accept that the timing isn’t right for everyone”.
Drew describes the journey as an almost spiritual shift in the way that he understands the world and that it’s like seeing patients with a brand-new lens. Instead of just focussing on their symptoms, he now sees the whole person and their life situation and takes that into account during his diagnosis and treatment.
Drew seems to be developing the art of blending physical manipulation with listening, questioning, and educating his patients. He also gives a significant amount of time to creating free content to help people independently take control of their own recovery journeys.
Finally, he feels grateful that now he does have an answer for those people that visit his clinic with chronic conditions…
Yes, you can recover from your chronic pain — that is, if you are open to exploring a mind-body approach!
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