Your Body isn’t Broken – it’s Just Trying to Protect You

This might be hard to swallow. But Valerie Beaulieu has a way of making you question everything you thought you knew about chronic pain.  She was our latest guest on Quantum Healthy.  Full disclosure, this episode has generated the the most positive feedback to me directly.  Sadly, I think more people are suffering with chronic pain than we realize and they identify with Valerie’s novel perspective on pain.

Quantum Entanglement

Last fall, my podcast partner Andeea asked my opinion on inviting Valerie on the podcast. She had met Valerie when they were in the same international coaching group last year well before our podcast launched. They somehow connected that Valerie and I lived in the same small town of Carleton Place, Ontario. What Andeea did not know is that Valerie and I used to play Ladies pick up hockey together.  That was honestly pure fun.  I always felt a connection with Valerie off the ice, especially with our common interest in health.  Her aunt also ran the quaint hair salon Saje I frequented for many years before I embraced my natural silver hair colour.  Furthermore, just before Andeea asked me about the interview, I had recently attended a free online webinar by Valerie on Overcoming Chronic Pain and was intrigued by her novel ideas. There was no question she should come on the podcast as we were both excited to learn about her Mind-Body-Rx.  It was also another opportunity to further quantum entangle off the ice with the lovely Valerie Beaulieu.

The Journey to Mind Body Medicine

Trauma, abandonment, painful symptoms and a surprising diagnosis…Valerie’s origin story is worth listening to the podcast in itself.  After living with chronic pain for too long, Valerie shared that it came down to her asking a fundamental question: what if my symptoms are related to the trauma I experienced? With that. she began researching, connecting dots and then completely healed herself. She was both her first Mind Body Medicine coach and client. Now she coaches others to do the same around the globe.  For anyone that knows anything about Access Consciousness or has had their Bars run with me, this example will be clear.  Its the #4 Key to Freedom – Live in the Question.  It opens the door to choice and possibility.  

Is Your Pain Physical or Neuroplastic?

Neuroplastic pain (NPP) is brain-generated pain that occurs in the absence of tissue damage or injury or not explained by a medical diagnosis. It is very good at mimicking structurally caused pain.  Valerie emphasized that it is real pain. For example, if you sprain your ankle and after months, its still painful – the brain may have developed pathways to tell you are still in danger even though structurally the injury has healed.  This is even though there still may be muscle weakness; lack of strength at this point may not explain the chronic pain. The emotion that fuels the pain is fear. It can be from worrying (=fear) that you are not doing the right exercises.  This starts the pain-fear-pain cycle and it becomes challenging to break that cycle. Because all pain feels like it’s coming from the body, it can be difficult to distinguish between pain that is physically-caused and pain that is Neuroplastic.

Is Your Pain Physical or Mind-Body Syndrome (MBS)?

Mind Body Syndrome (MBS) is also another cause of pain.  It is not a new diagnosis. In the 1970s, Dr. Sarno called it Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS). Dr. Shorter uses the term “psychosomatic” but this brings a negative connotation.  The reason people get MBS, or physical (or psychological symptoms) is due to emotions which are often unconscious.  The type of symptoms that the brain creates in our bodies does change over time.  It is important to just understand that MBS & NPP both mimic structural pain.  

5 Myths of Pain

Valerie enlightened us on these and I included her reactions best I could to each myth:

1. Pain = Damage

• Chronic pain isn’t always a sign of injury. It’s your brain’s interpretation, not your body breaking down.

2. Imaging Explains Pain

• An MRI showing “structural damage” or tissue abnormalities does not always explain pain; intense pain can occur even when the scan looks completely normal. Lots in their 20s have diagnosed osteoarthritis and yet have no pain.

3. Aging Causes Pain

• Pain is not part of growing older. Many people live pain-free at any age; it’s not inevitable! Yes, recovery could be slower but we have some eighty year old’s running marathons!

4. Rest is Best for Pain 

• Avoiding movement can actually worsen chronic pain. Gentle activity helps retrain your brain and body. The R and I of RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) is “out the door”. PEACE & LOVE is the new acronym (see next bullet). You want to move the injury; Rest and Ice impedes the natural healing process.

5. Pain Is Just Physical

• Pain is more than what’s happening in your body. Pain is deeply connected to your thoughts, emotions and stress levels.

PEACE & LOVE

Addressing Myth # 4 above (and curious myself with recovering a significant leg injury last year), I had to explore this more for myself.  The new PEACE & LOVE acronyms cover rehabilitation from immediate care of injury (PEACE), to on-going management (LOVE). See the Cite below if you want to go deeper on this.

PEACE – Immediately after injury, do no harm and let PEACE guide your approach. 

• Protect
• Elevate
• Avoid anti-inflammatory modalities
• Compress
• Educate

LOVE – After the first days have passed, soft tissues need LOVE:

• Load
• Optimism
• Vascularization
• Exercise

Pain = Emotion

This was the fundamental message I think Valerie really wanted to impress upon us.  Valerie explained that her job is to help those in chronic pain rewire their brain to no longer fear pain. She helps people reframe and see pain as your body’s way of communicating.  In so doing, they learn how to control the “emotion” of pain which is connected to fear.  If you know someone who suffers with chronic pain, PLEASE share this episode with them or forward this email. Remember you can click on the photos herein and go straight to the episode.  

Episode 30 – Valerie Beaulieu

Valerie Beaulieu – is the Founder of Mind-Body Living Rx. She is a self-driven and passionate entrepreneur, a Certified Athletic Therapist, Certified Life Coach. She is an expert in musculoskeletal injury assessment, active reconditioning, injury prevention and a sports first responder. She has over 15 years of extensive experience in the management of acute, chronic and sports-related injuries, pre-and post-surgery rehabilitation and in concussion management, for individuals ranging from the general public to Olympic athletes. Valerie is a loving mother and step-mother of four beautiful daughters.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro

01:24 – Valerie’s Journey

06:10 – Understanding Neuroplastic Pain

10:34 – Exploring Mind Body Syndrome

14:22 – Neuroplastic Pain Explained

17:10 – Guidelines for Managing Neuroplastic Pain

22:15 – Personality Traits Linked to Neuroplastic Pain

24:11 – Mind Body Syndrome Insights

27:15 – Importance of Self Love and Self Compassion

29:49 – Rewiring the Brain for Pain Relief

31:13 – Connection Between Pain and Emotions

35:54 – Impact of Storytelling on Pain Perception

39:53 – Common Myths About Pain

46:17 – The Smoke Alarm Metaphor

50:29 – Final Questions

53:46 – Signature Quantum Question

54:50 – Finding Valerie

59:11 – Thank You

1:02:30 – Outro

Music Credit: Devon Kissmann

This podcast is for educational purposes only.

CITES

https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/What_is_Mind_Body_Syndrome:_Part_1,_by_Howard_Schubiner

 

PEACE & LOVE: Say Goodbye to RICE for Your Soft-Tissue Injury