I have to step into the 'physical manifestation of emotional pain' discussion.
When I was a sophomore in college, I fell on a strip of ice. For three days, I could not walk, and my legs just felt tingly. I injured a nerve ending in my lower right back... and was equated with a pschatic problem. As it turned out, it was not nerve damage, I had just 'sprained' my back. Like a sprained ankle, once injured, it will always be more suseptible to future injury.
When I was going through my physical abuse as a kid... I had MASSIVE migraine headaches. And I mean massive and dibilitating. They were extreme tension headaches, come to find out... and as the attacks stopped and I got out of my extreme emotional distress, they went away. However. If I enter into a situation, into a room, that 'smells' like my bedroom as a child? Guess what I get, unless I remove myself almost immediately from the sitch?
A migraine.
I remember walking into a hotel room, once, and telling my now xH... oh my God, this room smells like my bedroom when I was a kid... next day... I couldn't MOVE.
As for the back... it has become my eipi-center for stress, now. It is centered in my psoas muscle.... and my right hip flexor.
The psoas, as it turns out, is related directly to the fight or flight impulse, and can often be mis-diagnosed for a psychiatica nerve problem.
In order for me to counter-act my problem, I had four cortizone shots in my hips (two each side), bed-rest, and then an incrementaly increased workout program to strenghten my CORE muscle area.
In the meantime, I was also having anxiety attacks, so I entered into a meditation exercise to lower my heart rate and deepen my breathing. Lack of oxygen was contributing to my muscle spasms. I also underwent message therapy and some physcial therapy.
This... ALL... from Post Traumatic Stress. Divorce and car accident.
