Your mood and emotions can physically change the way your body feels and operates. Did you know that how you use your body can also change the way you think and feel?

A classic example of this that you may be familiar with is the “runner’s high”–a sensation of elation and energy that some people say they feel following a bout of aerobic exercise such as running or brisk walking. This positive effect on mood is thought to be caused by increases in endorphins and other hormones. Believe it or not, many of these substances are actually opioid-like substances produced by your own brain!

Stress and trauma can have major effects on our emotions, behavior, and physiological function. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk discusses the way the brain, mind, and body respond to trauma and the healing of trauma in his best-selling book “The Body Keeps The Score.” (Full disclosure: I am only part of the way through this book–but I am getting a lot out of it!)

One of the many things the author discusses is the “bottom-up” approach to healing. These are methods that require a person to change the way they interact with their body–to change their physiological function to help the body and mind to live in the present.

One simple way to start doing this is through breathing. Take a moment now to become aware of your breathing. Take a large breath in… and slowly let it out. Under conditions of stress, we breathe more rapidly and may actually use different methods or different muscles to perform this vital task. A slow breath out is associated with the part of your nervous system that helps you “rest and digest” rather than prepare for “fight, flight, or freeze.”

Techniques such as this are just a part of the larger work of healing from trauma, and anyone dealing with trauma or post-traumatic stress should seek help from a licensed mental health professional to get an individualized treatment plan.

While physical therapists aren’t consulted specifically for trauma, we do interact with people who have significant stress and sometimes with people who are working through trauma from an accident or major medical issue. Musculoskeletal injuries and surgeries can be traumatic experiences and require that the mind heals along with the body. The same is true of patients who experience dizziness, vertigo, or falling–these episodes can be frightening, stressful, and even traumatic. Physical therapy uses some of the bottom-up approaches such as breathing, the sense of touch, and exercise to help a person heal.

Our human experience is physical, psychological, social, and spiritual, with interactions in and between each of these planes of existence. Sometimes, we can use our most basic physical senses to get us to a better place.

Dr. Greg Synnestvedt, PT, DPT, at WWS Physical Therapy and Vestibular Rehabilitation, Doylestown, PA.

Jan 2021