Julie Luongo

“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.” ~The Buddha

I have symbolic illnesses. Well, I think everybody does because I believe in the mind-body connection. What I mean is that I don’t believe exposure to germs is the sole contributing factor to illness. We’re always exposed to germs and suseptible to injury. However, we open certain channels to injury and illness based on our mental state. Well, I do.

So, I get a sore throat when I avoid saying something I want to say. I get heartburn when I’m making questionable relationship choices. (To be fair, I also get heartburn when my calorie intake exceeds my energy output, which is usually when I’m eating out a lot, which is usually when I’m dating someone new, so this one’s not perfectly symbolic.)

I had acid reflux when I dated a guy who was constantly judging me. I got blurred vision when I didn’t want to see something upsetting. I could go on and on, but you don’t need to hear about my manifestations of “pains in my butt” or things that “piss me off.” You probably get the picture. (Ouch. I know.)

I had a hip problem for 7 years. It started in grad school and ended (sort-of) when I got my first book deal. Figure that one out. If my hips facilitate movement, I suppose my hip pain could equal stilted movement. Hmmm. My body speaks in simple metaphors so I can understand it. Me dumb brain.

Make no mistake, the hip pain didn’t go away magically on its own when I got my writing career moving. I had to be proactive about finding a solution. My symbolic aches and ills aren’t strictly psychosomatic. Sometimes I can get rid of them through corrective action — like with the sore throat — I can speak my mind and feel better in an hour or two. But sometimes I need an assist from medicine or rest or physical therapy. Either way, I can always find a symbolic reason for its existence.

It took a chiropractor to show me how to fix my hip. He used trigger point therapy, which I’ll describe (simplistically) as a version of acupressure, except that acupressure is on meridian points and trigger point therapy is on sore points or knots. Basically, what I’m saying is that the hip pain I had for 7 years was fixed with some massage-like manipulation of my muscles and tendons.

My doctor stretched the tight tendons in my leg and pressed on, and released, knots deep in my hip that I didn’t even know I had. It was one of the single most embarrassing moments of my life to find out that the pain I was living with — pain that had radiated to my foot and knee — was caused by knots in my muscles that were easily melted away by some steady pressure. Another embarrassing moment was when I burst into tears on the table while he was working on me. Oh, those were dark days for this brave heroine.

As fate would have it, at the same time I’d started trigger point therapy with the chiropractor, I was introduced to The Pressure Positive Co. by my friend Costello who didn’t have any knowledge of my hip-pain struggle. (He’s over there on my Cool Friends list at The Winning Attitude and One Kind Act.) I did some research, interviewed the founder, and wrote a little story, which they posted on their site. I also got myself that gizmo above — The Backnobber II. (Thanks, Renee!)

I know, I sound like I’m writing ad copy here. But, it’s for the greater good because here’s the thing about muscle pain …. it’ll kill you. Take my case for instance:

I’m a healthy, somewhat fit person who exercises regularly and eats moderately well. In the course of my regular activity, I tweak my hip. I baby it and develop knots in my muscles as a natural reaction to protecting my sore hip. The knots then become the source of pain and I, in turn, baby them. My tendons accommodate for my new gait and shrink on one side and elongate on the other.

Now, I’m all lopsided and I get some shoulder pain on the opposite side. I feel less inclined to exercise because I’m in pain. But I persist, further exacerbating the problems. Eventually, the dysfunction in my hip radiates to my foot.

I now have planter fasciitis and am nearly crippled by the searing pain that is this evil ailment. The treatment is to stay off of my foot. No, I don’t get a wheelchair. I hobble around and completely stop exercising.

I eventually buy expensive inserts for my shoes, which I can’t afford but borrow money becasue I’m in so much pain I don’t care how much they cost if they’ll help even a little. They do help, and I start exercising again. But I’ve gained some weight and the hip pain is still there making exercise even more unpleasant than I usually find it.

Since the pain was forced out of my foot, the dysfunction moves and eventually settles in my knee. I stop exercising again after falling straight to the ground when my knee gives out while just casually walking my dog around the block. What a fun new surprise!

Since I’m only a moderately healthy eater, the cookies and beer and bacon add pounds quickly. I get lazier and fatter and eventually I die of heart disease or complications from adult onset diabetes or any variety of problems that beset the sedentary. Everyone thinks they know what I died from, but really, I died from knots in my hip that I never fixed.

Ok, I didn’t really die. I shouldn’t have given away the ending at the beginning by telling you I went to the chiropractor. Oh, and I didn’t even go there for very long once I found out what I was dealing with and serendipitously also discovered that there were self-care tools that would allow me to fix it myself.

Now, when the aches flair up, which they do because I let the dysfunction go for so long (curses!), I just take my Backnobber and lever it into my sore muscle knots and hold it there with steady pressure until they release. And I eat bacon and drink beer and sometimes I go for days without eating a salad or moving from my desk. But I’m not in pain. So, if I die from the cholesterol blocking my arteries, I only have my inertia to blame.