People with Chronic Pain and Depression
Chronic pain is in epidemic proportions globally; in Australia 1 in 5 live with chronic pain, this includes adolescents and children. What is scary is that this prevalence rises to 1 in 3 people over the age of 65 (Pain Australia). This means one person in every family suffers with chronic pain.
Even though pain is the most common reason people seek medical help, it is one of the most misunderstood and neglected areas of healthcare. At the current rate this prevalence of chronic pain is projected to increase as Australia's population ages. A common way of medically managing chronic pain is with medications; this can cause another layer of health problems for the people who suffer with this out of control condition.
Frequently people who have chronic pain also have associated increased levels of stress and or anxiety, fear of pain, depression and low vitality:
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In my experience people with chronic pain and depression initially don’t want to connect or feel their body as they just want to get rid of the pain; they see their pain as a problem rather than a message from their body.
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They are caught in the ‘catch 22’ , they feel tired , flat and awful about their body. This leaves them feeling flat and joyless about themselves and life. You can’t expect someone to feel good about themselves if their body feels terrible.
Kate Greenaway 2017
In this audio Kate shares in an open, practical way her own experiences with chronic pain and how her fresh approach via her studies of the connective tissue have helped so many with this debilitating condition. Over many years she has searched for a more holistic and gentle way of treating people with chronic pain, aware that there are often complicated physical and emotional problems underlying the physical pain and also aware that the ‘ just accept and manage it ‘ approach taken by many health practitioners does not support those in chronic pain. Her love of the body’s connective tissue, its natural intelligence with its beautifully designed way of healing itself, comes to the fore as she describes her experiences in working with people with chronic pain.​
Audio
A session with Kate – an overview
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In the initial treatment Kate provides a thorough physical assessment of her client and the problem area. She works with you, the client, to explore if there was an original injury or physical strain causing the problem. Kate also assesses the extent of the tissue damage, chronic muscle weakness and resulting problem from the injury or strain. She may also inquire, if it is appropriate, about stress levels and emotional health. This thorough assessment allows you and Kate to be very clear on the extent of physical and sometimes emotional problems before the treatment program begins.
A significant part of each treatment with Kate are modalities that support you to relax and settle on the treatment table. Kate has found that this approach supports her clients’ overall wellbeing because it helps to lessen any anxiety and general tension held throughout the body.
The modalities that may assist the gentle physiotherapy and joint releases include Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy, remedial massage and Sacred Esoteric Healing. Clients may be offered a combination of two or three of these therapies. The choice of therapies depends on the area of the problem, the condition of the soft tissues and the client's preferences.
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In the beginning of the session the treatment focuses on supporting you to relax your entire body. As you settle and allow more ease throughout your body, Kate can then focus more specifically on the problem area.
An important part of the treatment that Kate offers is support in understanding what your body is telling you. A deeper understanding of why you are experiencing pain can alleviate the stress about the condition and also offer a greater understanding that the pain is simply a way of the body communicating with you.
As Kate has observed:​
“The client generally is less stressed with their condition when they understand that they have not done anything wrong, that their pain is their body giving them a message. This message may be they are doing some physical activities that are straining their connective tissue, soft tissue and joint structures or it may be a message that they are holding their body in huge tension associated with organ disease and or emotional stress/disharmony.”
In this way Kate supports her clients to understand how it is that they have come to this place with this problem in their body. Once the client understands what has gone into creating the problem, they can then be empowered to change the way they do the things that have caused their problem.