Question
Hi,I have had chronic pain for approximately 2 years; since I took a job which requires me to drive in the car several hours per day.  I have a herniated disc in my lower back.  My pain started in the lower back, then traveled to my hip and groin area. It is worse on the left side.  I now have the numbness, weakness and aching in my left leg.  In the past five months, I have been experiencing tightness in my throat.  It feels like someone is squeezing my neck.  It is very uncomfortable.  I feel as if the throat pain is somehow connected to the back/hip/groin pain.  I have been to the chiropractor and two orthopedic doctors; none of whom have been able to help me.  The pain is exacerbated when I am seated for periods of time over an hour.  Have you seen/heard of these combined symptoms before?  Is there anything I can do?  This chronic pain is physically and emotionally debilitating.  At my last doctor's visit, I started crying.  I think he thought I was nuts. He suggested that my  anxiety and depression may be contributing to my symptoms.  I don't disagree with this entirely, but feel as if there is more to it.  I would so grateful if you could help me. Thanks.

Answer

Hanna Somatic Educatio Hello, Lisa,

I'm sorry you've got this.

Yes, I'm familiar with it.

The neck discomfort is probably a reaction to the other pain, as you tighten up and shrink in.

Your description indicates the following pattern:


There exists a pattern of four muscular pulls that causes pain in back (along with disc compression and herniation), down the groin and down the thighs and can lead to deep pelvic pain and incontinence.  All aspects of the pattern must be addressed to get the desired outcome:

  1. psoas:  
  2. hip joint flexors:  
  3. hamstrings:  
  4. spinal erectors:

This pattern compresses the lumbo-sacral junction (nerve impingement) and triggers reflexive muscular pain in the pelvis and thighs, and leg weakness (or the sensation of weakness).  Tight hamstrings reflexively involve the spinal extensors and so must be dealt with specifically.

Your doctor has resorted to the old, "anxiety and depression" diagnosis; he doesn't understand your pattern and that the emotions are a result, not the cause.  It's not in his training.

Your best option is sessions with a clinical somatic educator, who can free you through a training process from the grip of this pattern.  Depending on where you live, I may be able to recommend someone.

If no one practices nearby, I can make recommendations for self-treatment, using programs I have developed for that purpose.

regard,
Lawrence Gold