You are reading this because your symptoms are unusually high right now and you need a gameplay, and fast.
Please read this article to lay down the best foundation of how best to approach what you are experiencing.
Flare-ups can either set you free, or keep you trapped.
Flare-ups are those moments in which your pain seems extra high – things that usually feel good, don’t feel good anymore in this moment…symptoms and emotions around your pain are, well, flared up.
How you handle a flare-up will determine ultimately how successful you will be at changing your body and getting the results you want.
Life will do its best to knock you down.
Some people stay down.
Others stand up, keep doing the same things, and keep getting knocked down in the same ways.
While some learn why they got knocked down, and learn from it. Every time life knocks them down, they stand up better, smarter, and stronger. In fact, these people welcome knockdowns because they know they are just going to learn from them and stand up better than ever.
Learning how to navigate your flare-ups, and what to do when they come, is one of the single greatest skillsets someone can learn!
When you can gracefully navigate a flare-up, your relationship to pain drastically changes because you know you can get out of any problem that your body throws at you.
Experiencing a flare-up or nerve pain can be and often is an extremely emotional phenomenon in which you feel that you have lost control of your body.
We are biologically hard-wired to associate negative feelings and emotions to unwanted pain, so it’s completely natural to have a panicked or stressed response. But if a flare-up is not approached with an appropriate strategy, a flare-up can put you in a dark emotional state, almost feeling stuck or trapped with no way out, which just further puts the body in a state of despair … and the flare-up cycle continues.
On the flip side, when you are moving out of a flare-up, you feel as though your body’s function is improving and symptoms are going away. This will put you on the opposite end of that emotional spectrum, in a happier, elated state of mind because you feel 100% in control of your body again.
So, what do you do when you are in a flare-up?
Simple short answer: do your functional tests—take pictures/videos. (found here – https://painacademy.net/functional-tests/ )
The answer to why you are experiencing a flare-up lies within how your body performs, or in the case of a flare-up, doesn’t perform these functions.
Remember, pain enters the picture when your body loses balance and function. The pain is telling you things aren’t working they way they should.
If you’re a member of our online movement program, another simple approach is to do a familiar Rebalancing Movement Sequence and pay attention to what is different. What is working harder, or not as you remember? The details in your answers can be simply reverse engineered to help you understand why you’re in a flare-up.
If you are not a member, and are experiencing pain, I recommend you join as soon as possible, read the book for more information like this (free for download as a member), watch our videos, test your movement, and most importantly, rebalance your body with our exercises.
Example 1
Neutral position, normally you feel really balanced when you are not in a flare-up, but now that your symptoms or pain levels have increased and you are in a flare-up, you really feel your left pelvis on the ground heavier and your right shoulder feels like it is lifting away from the ground, and not as flat as it usually is.
This means … you are rotated and imbalanced more than usual.
The difference in how you feel now, versus when you were feeling better, is why you are experiencing pain. Look for a sequence that settles those imbalances or improves any of the functional tests, and you’re on your way out of a flare-up either immediately or within a few days!
When pain or symptoms set in as a flare-up, what we need to do is listen to the body asking for a little help. The symptoms and pain you are experiencing are telling you to do something that reminds it of balance and symmetry. Turn to your functional tests: go do your favorite sequence or even your favorite position by itself, and then retest your functional test. You should notice that the balance and symmetry have improved, and the symptom should be lessened, maybe a little less sharp (you’re on your way give it a few more days), or gone completely.
Example 2
You can normally do the single-leg standing functional test with relatively similar balance when you stand on your right leg, compared to when you stand on your left leg.
But you are in a flare-up.
Now, you can barely balance on one leg.
This means you can’t use your left leg and right leg in the same way – you have lost balance. This is why you are in a flare-up. That high level of imbalance has placed you in a high state of compensation!
Go try any Rebalancing Movement Sequence from the You Are One course (because they are all geared to relax the imbalance and restore function gently), and then retest your functional test.
You should notice that the balance and symmetry have improved, and the symptom should be lessened on it’s way out, or gone.
Example 3
You normally sit in a chair fairly even on both hips, and you are in a natural, relaxed position sitting decently tall, with both shoulders naturally relaxed balanced vertically over the hips/pelvis – not a forced pulled back shoulder.
Now that you are in a flare-up, you are sitting heavier on one hip, you are totally slouching and collapsed into that chair with little to no support from your muscular system.
Reverse engineering this means you’re imbalanced, (because you are now sitting on one hip more than the other) as you shift your upper body over to one side to try and coutnerbalance things.
This means your hips and shoulders are no longer working well together.
Go perform your favorite sequence or even your favorite position by itself, and then retest your functional test. You should notice that the balance and symmetry have improved, and the symptom should be lessened or gone.
Remember, your pain is not random. For every action, there is a reaction. These high levels of symptoms are the reaction from a lot of imbalanced actions within your movement and body.
Lastly, you now know that emotions and motion are one and the same. (Please read Emotions and Motion if you haven’t yet from my book – if you don’t have a copy you can go here to buy it https://painacademy.net/breaking-your-limits-ebook/ ) What is your emotional state before, or during, or after a flare-up? How do you think that is impacting your symptoms?