The Need to Treat the Mind with the Body
As a PT (physio) I realized a long time ago that we are not just mechanical bodies cut off from the mind at the neck, but that in fact, our brains and nervous systems have a greater impact on our bodies than we could ever imagine. In this study that premise bears out as whiplash patients who underwent PT (physio) showed much larger and more meaningful physical gains like range of motion and pain relief when they were able to psychologically revisit the car crashes in their minds and deal with the stress the brain had stored in its memory banks.
I now work this way with patients- blending the psychological with the physical. I believe all healthcare practitioners should learn to include the brain with the body as we are just as cut off as patients are when it comes to understanding how the mind deeply affects the body.
In this study according to Michele Sterling of the University of Queensland’s RECOVER Injury Research Centre, almost half of the people who experience whiplash from a road traffic crash will never fully recover.
“One of the things that seems to be important as to whether people recover well or not, is their level of stress symptoms after the accident,” Professor Sterling says.
