The roots of pain

This weekend was really beautiful! I couldn’t help but go into my garden and do a little weeding to take advantage of the sunshine. As I was weeding, I was thinking about pain. Correlations between the two began to take shape:

There are many reasons for being in pain: Some are self-induced, some the result of surgeries that didn’t go as expected, some the result of trauma, while others are “unknown.” When pain doesn’t go away, many choose to go the route of medications, but some choose not to. Unfortunately, many medications are addictive, others have undesirable side effects, and some people simply can’t take them.

When pain doesn’t go away as it “should” – for example taking a long time to heal after trauma or surgery — we need to ask “why?” If there is pain without trauma or surgery, and it isn’t going away, we also need to ask “why?” Simply stated, we need to get to the root of it.

While weeding my garden, I discovered that some of the grass that had taken up residence in my grow box had very long roots. Those long roots had shoots off to the side, that another bunch of grass grew up from. If I found a bunch of grass on that long root in the middle, I could break it off and throw it away, but the root left in the ground was still viable and would continue to grow and send out more shoots. In order to alleviate the problem, I had to dig around, find the entire root, with all of its shoots and pull it out together. If I didn’t, or if I just broke them off, the problem would still be there, and I would find myself out there again, having to root it all up again.

Pain, especially pain “without cause,” has a root. Taking medications is just breaking off the top of the grass at the surface. It may temporarily feel better/look better), but the problem under the surface still exists. Generally, there are several shoots that sprout up elsewhere that get managed with other medications or treatments. Because they are under the surface, we don’t realize they are all part of the same root. While some of the root cause may be addressed, unless the fullness of the root is exposed and removed altogether, the issues will continue to surface again.

There are several things, especially nutritionally, that can affect how fast you heal, or how well you heal. The body needs certain building blocks with which to heal. If they are missing, healing is hampered. Likewise, other things can keep the body in a state of inflammation that is counter-productive.

The best thing that helps heal and assist the body in getting rid of pain and inflammation is acupuncture. Proven over thousands of years, and in significant studies, acupuncture has demonstrated remarkable benefits in pain of all types. Most importantly, acupuncture addresses the many root causes of pain.

Learn more by attending tonight’s class, “Natural Alternatives to Painkillers,” at 7 p.m. at Vital Health in Coeur d’Alene. Fee: $10. RSVP: (208) 765-1994.

Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with nearly four decades of experience. She is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’Alene clinic. Visit www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about her, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at (208) 765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.