The Story that Makes Me Thankful for Pain

As we exit the season of thankfulness and gift giving, we often think of all the things we are grateful for. Things such as our families, close friends, our health, our pets, our jobs, our church usually come to mind first. While these are certainly worthy of being top of mind, I recently read a story that made me thankful for something I never thought I would ever be thankful for.

Pain.

Yes, you read that correctly. I’m thankful for the occasional physical pains that I experience. Let me share the story that changed my perspective on this matter. I want you to meet Ashlyn Blocker. Ashlyn was born with a condition called Congenital Insensitivity to Pain. This means that she feels no pain. Zero. None. Ever. Her mom, Tara, says that “some people think this is a good thing, but no it’s not. Pain is there for a reason and it lets your body know that something is wrong, and it needs to be fixed. I’d give anything for my daughter to have pain.”

Can you imagine putting your hand on a hot stove and not feeling it? Or twisting your ankle and not realizing you probably shouldn’t walk on it for a few days? How about biting your tongue repeatedly because you can’t feel it? She also can’t feel organ pain. Things like appendicitis, objects in her eyes, or chest pain could be a death sentence since she can’t feel the associated pain that would tell the rest us, we should seek help. This is what Ashlyn deals with every single day.

Most of us long to have pain free days. While this is by no means a bad goal to shoot for, there is a problem with how we treat pain. Pain is not the enemy. Pain is not the cause of the problem. Pain is a result of the problem. When we focus on masking or covering up the pain, we are only extending the root cause of the problem. Using drugs or other substances to temporarily get rid of pain may feel better but it is only prolonging the problem which tend to get worse over time and require more drugs and/or higher doses.

Neurologically-based chiropractors look to the central nervous system to find the root causes of pain and correct these areas. Once these areas are corrected and maintained your body heals and the pain goes away on its own. This is the most conservative option with no side-effects that works long-term as opposed to needing a handful of drugs every day.

Are you or someone you know tired of treating pain like it’s the problem? Give us a call to schedule an appointment to get to the root cause of that pain so you can live the life you were designed to.