Trauma and Your Body’s Natural Expression of Health

Your body has an innate vitality and naturally seeks health. Health is a process of dynamic equilibrium of interconnections involving your musculoskeletal, nervous, immune, vascular, lymphatic and internal organ systems, providing an overall sense of well being.

A trauma to your body’s state of health may occur when you encounter a stress of any form:

  • an illness, such as a respiratory infection (cold, flu), exacerbation of an underlying illness, as can happen with asthma, where diaphragmatic or rib restrictions further impede your breathing ability, or diabetes, when your gastrointestinal, vascular and lymphatic systems are disrupted
  • physical trauma, any kind of physical injury such as motor vehicle accidents, sports or exercise related injuries, as well as unwanted touch, assault, and sexual violence.
  • emotional and psychological trauma, especially marginalized communities who continue to encounter systemic oppression, both subtle and overt
  • Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)

Trauma creates a stress response in the body, often in the form of contraction and a heightened activation of the nervous system, restricting the motion of the tissues in the body which can lead to chronic tensions and multiple health issues. Any trauma can result in musculoskeletal discomfort/pain (such as headache, shoulder, or back pain), visceral pain (such as a stomach ache or abdominal pain), or general/vague symptoms such as fatigue, dis-connection to self and/or others, or feelings of being in a fog.

Each individual has a unique healing ability to respond to ailments or traumas, due to genetic differences, nutrition, and prior injuries, as well as social and environmental factors created in a caste system that perpetuates marginalization, including transphobia, homophobia, misogyny, ableism, poverty, anti-indigeneity and anti-blackness. Your body’s natural healing ability enables you to make adjustments on its own to resolve traumas; however, your body may have a difficult time healing from a significant single or repeated traumas.

Traumas can be lodged into the very fabric of your body; you can carry the traumas for a long time and later experience significant physical discomfort/pain, triggers, anxiety, depression, anger, resentment, or general/vague symptoms. Most of us intuitively understand that this occurs when the traumas are physical in nature, and there is increasing acknowledgement that this also occurs when the traumas are psychological or emotional. For example, sometimes emotional pain may manifest as chest, shoulder, back and/or abdominal pain or throat tightness. An example that illustrates how long our bodies can hold trauma is birth trauma: for some infants the trauma is very visible, such as misshapen heads or torticollis, where a contracted neck muscles prevent the infant from using the full range of motion in the neck, even into adulthood; for other infants the birth trauma is not visible, and the effects of the trauma is carried into adulthood in less obvious but still significant ways. Physical, psychological and emotional traumas of childhood often go over-looked by the adults in our lives and ourselves, tangled in the body into adulthood. Childhood traumas can lead to deeply held or repressed anger, fear, hate, sorrow and shame which disconnects us from ourselves and those around, affect our self-worth, inhibits us from trusting ourselves and others, and being present.

Healing is present in your body, and compensatory mechanisms develop to minimize pain and avoid further injury; for example postural habits or more reliance on different muscles to accomplish the same tasks. Osteopathy can support re-balancing the nervous system, connective tissues and the musculoskeletal system, ease the inter-connections within the body, engage physical, mental, physical and energetic restrictions due to trauma and release what the body might no longer need, and establish a new dynamic equilibrium toward health and well being.

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