By Suzanne McBride, DC

Forgetting pain is a human survival technique. But when we’re used to being in survival mode, we also forget what it feels like to be free, happy and at ease.

For 12 years, I maintained that a certain traumatic event did not affect me, when actually it shaped me more then any experience I’d ever had. But I didn't know how to stop it from unconsciously running the show, and eventually I couldn’t remember how I felt before it happened. My inner light got dim, then distant. Then I forgot me.

One day I met Lisa, a Network Spinal Analysis doctor, and she saw my suffering. While she could feel it pulsating through me, I couldn’t. All I could feel was severe back pain. I was limiting my activities, had trouble sitting in class, and felt sad, lonely and tired.

I received traditional chiropractic adjustments that sometimes helped. I was also self-medicating with alcohol and drugs, which provided superficial relief followed by inflamed, angry pain.

The fake smile I’d worn for 12 years got chipped the moment Lisa saw me. I will never forget what she said: “Your pain is emotional.”

Vulnerable and scared, I reinforced my armor and resumed my hunt for the “real” source of my pain. An MRI revealed the physical destruction, but deep inside me, that distant light was flickering. The pain was rooted in emotions, and I was destroying my body.

Lisa had a solution for me, and working with her I began to heal, achieving results I had been unable to achieve through talk therapy or straight bodywork.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn't put Humpty together again. Too bad there was no network doc in the castle.

Suzanne McBride, DC, is founder of Connected Spine, 580 Broadway, Ste. 403. For more information, contact her at 212.334.3395 or [email protected], or visit ConnectedSpine.com.