8 Pain—Its Purpose and Significance It is rare that a person is completely healthy, and there are many different definitions and views regarding this subject. The French physiologist Du Bois, for example, puts it thus: “People respond to all the factors in their environment, and the manner of their response is the measure of their health.” In other words, he regards health as a constantly changing process of adjustment which continues throughout life. In his book Dennoch Landarzt, Dr. August Heisler writes analogously that when he meets people who have no experience of pain and disease, he rather avoids them, because he observed that such people often lack compassion and understanding. They are “only” healthy, nothing else. And being healthy alone is not enough for a human being. Generally speaking, no one welcomes pain or disease and furthermore their occurrence is always inopportune. However, we observe that an increasing number of patients are able to accept that disease and suffering are not simply enemies and troublemakers that have to be fought—they also provide an opportunity for reorientation and encourage a new outlook on life. “Pain creates awareness.” In addition, pain or inflammation is always a self-preservation response and plays an important protective role in recognizing and accepting limits, such as: • The child who is cautious where heat is involved as a result of their first, painful experience with the hot stovetop. • The patient who wisely avoids rotating their injured arm beyond the threshold of pain. • The woman who learns to avoid some kinds of food as a result of her chronic gastritis. Naturally, we see our essential task as being to alleviate pain and find ways of making it disappear in part or—according to the regenerative capabilities of our patients—even completely. In traditional reflexotherapy of the feet (RTF), as with other methods, pain presents itself as an indicator for the recognition of injuries because usually healthy organs or tissues do not cause pain, either in situ or in the equivalent zone on the foot. (Other criteria are paramount in RTF lymphatic treatment in Chapter 29.) During treatment we work cautiously and alertly with the pain felt by patients in certain zones, but never against it (Chapters 4.1 and 4.2). As a result of the individually tailored dosage of the therapeutic grips, the patient learns that pain is not an end in itself but that it provides guidance and diminishes sooner when we treat it with respect. Beginners will sometimes find it difficult to trust the objective testimony of the compiled evidence more than the subjective testimony of the patient. They mistakenly assume that when all is said and done patients “knows best whereabouts something is wrong with them.” What is forgotten in the process is that the patient is only aware of the painful symptom but not the background which has led to its development. Three points requiring clarification: 1. Most people think that the occurrence of pain is synonymous with the start of an illness. The reality is different, because every disease process or condition is preceded by a developmental stage or “silent phase” in which the person’s powers of self-healing attempt to maintain all the functions in the organism as well as possible. In this so-called preclinical stage, pain in situ is still barely perceptible, if at all, but can already be palpated as abnormalities in the appertaining zones. It is only when the internal control principle no longer works that the disease becomes subjectively tangible for the patient as a result of pain and/or restricted movement. 2. With accidents too, an actual illness seldom begins with spontaneous pain or a fracture because it has individual background causes and internal correlations. 3. Many patients think a troubling symptom is an illness. But illness, above all long-term illness, is by no means restricted to the painful site at which the symptom appears. An everyday example: In patients with headaches it is not only the head which is affected but the whole person who suffers. Remember: Patients are usually satisfied when the disorders disappear in the physical sphere. However, sometimes the person’s powers of self-healing unexpectedly enable responses at other levels with the aid of RTF, for example: • At an emotional level, with laughter and/or tears providing relief, with the unexpected resurfacing of earlier traumatic events (Chapter 17) • At a mental level, through recognition of harmful habits (unhealthy eating habits, lack of exercise, etc.) and/or • At a spiritual level, with a change of perspective regarding the meaning of illness and the concept of fate in life During a course of treatment it is also observed that as a result of predominant pain in an organ or tissue, less intense conditions are obscured or initially overlooked. They only become apparent when the most noticeable bout of pain has been overcome by means of repeated treatments. Due to their lack of awareness of the situation, some patients then think that RTF is making them “worse than they were before” because they are only able to feel the previously less noticeable pain as a result of the more dominant pain diminishing (“Hering’s Law,” Chapter 14.1). When treating the abnormal zones of the foot, the patient experiences various pain sensations. The reactions of the autonomic nervous system (perspiring hands, dry mouth, etc., Chapter 4.2) also point to a subjective sensation of pain in response to the individual dosage of the grips. • The most surprising sensation is that of intense, almost stabbing pain. It occurs most frequently on the periostium, for example, on the toes, the heel bone and the fibula. Method: The small, specific areas are treated with the tip of the thumb or index finger while keenly observing the patient (Fig. 10.6). Slowly going deeper into the abnormal zones enables the patient to accept the pain, not least because he or she finds that it usually subsides rapidly. • Well outlined and clearly defined, often extending into the deeper layers of the foot, pain is felt at sites with more muscles and connective tissue, usually on the plantar surface. Method: Basic thumb grips (see Figs. 3.1–3.4) are the most appropriate on the soles of the feet. Depending on the sensation of pain, varying the speed and intensity of treatment is the method of choice. • The sensation on the webs may be exceptionally piercing, triggered by the stretching grip customary there. Method: The thumb and index finger simultaneously begin stretching the tissue folds in the plantar and dorsal space between the individual metatarsophalangeal joints and continue until the thumb and index finger meet (Chapter 3.2.4). • In the tendons, for instance around the Achilles tendon and malleoli, there is frequently venous and/or lymphatic congestion in the foot and distal part of the lower leg, above all in women. If there is swelling, the pain is usually dull and extensive in the upper layers of tissue close to the skin. Method: Treatment here is performed gently with the pads of the thumbs or fingers and specific gripping deep into the tissue with the tip of the thumb or finger is avoided. The alternating strokes of RTF lymphatic treatment are the most appropriate for the area around the Achilles tendon (see Figs. 3.6, 3.7). It is also possible to work around the malleoli using gentle thumb and index finger grips. Exceptions to the sensation of pain are observed in patients: • who take medication (often a variety at the same time) which dampens the perception of pain and the responses of the autonomic nervous system and the central nervous system, for example, painkillers and sleeping pills, beta blockers, psychotropic drugs, drugs for rheumatism, and also narcotics. • who suffer from particular diseases which alter sensitivity and the perception of pain and may slow down reactions such as diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, hemi- and paraplegia, fibromyalgia, etc. Method: Often in these patients neither local pain in the zones nor the indications of the autonomic nervous system are reliable in assessing the correct dosage for the situation. Therefore in these circumstances initially gentle treatment with neutral grips is employed. Treatment times are initially limited to 10 to 15 minutes. Stabilizing/harmonizing and/or eutonic grips (Chapter 6) are possible at any time and their regulatory effect can be verified spontaneously. From My Practice In the early years of my RTF work I took care of a frail, elderly patient suffering from severe pain on the left side of her lower back. On one of my home visits, a footbath had just been prepared for her. As I was pushed for time, I treated her zones in the foot bath. To my surprise, her feet were far less sensitive under water than usual and I was able to increase the intensity of my grips significantly. I later had the same positive experience with other patients who were very sensitive to pain too. At around the same time, a colleague tried to target the zones with a powerful jet of water during underwater massage. The reactions were more negative, probably because a differentiated dosage of the stimulus was not possible.
8.1 Health, Disease, and Pain
8.2 Perceptions of Pain in the Zones and Methods of Treatment
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