On Monday, a new practice member came in for her first entrainment of the week in Issaquah WA. I asked her how she’d been since I’d seen her last Wednesday. She replied, “Unfortunately, not very good.” She went on to tell me that she had begun to have intense pain in her right shoulder on Friday. She had had a shoulder injury many years ago, but she hadn’t experienced pain like this in years. It was so bad, in fact, that she went to Urgent Care, but the doctor couldn’t see anything wrong.

“He said I could have possibly sprained something, but I didn’t do anything to bring on the pain. He said there wasn’t much he could do besides give me pain medication, which I never like to take, so I refused and went home.”

I asked her how her shoulder was feeling now. “That’s the interesting thing,” she said thoughtfully, “After a few hours the pain was almost completely gone, and by the next day it was as if it hadn’t happened. But then the pain in my left neck started to flare up really intensely, but that also went away after a few hours. And remember last week, I also had that pain in my hip. It’s like the pain is visiting all of the spots it used to live.”

I smiled and said “Cindy, you’re exactly right. What you are experiencing is called retracing.”

So, what is retracing in Issaquah WA?

Retracing is part of the healing process that involves the reexperiencing or reawakening of old symptoms in the process of releasing them. As the body unwinds old tension patterns and we start to release the built-up stressors in our nervous systems, things can get a little dicey. The junk that was so tightly packed and stored away deep in our physiology starts to break loose. When this happens, old symptoms might resurface.

For some people, like Cindy, the symptom will be extreme and then pass quickly. Other people might have more mild experiences of symptoms, but they may take a little longer to work through. Some people may not experience any physical retracing but have a reoccurrence of an emotion or an experience instead. Others may not ever have a retracing experience, and that is ok too. Everybody and every nervous system is different, and we all experience healing and releasing in our own unique way.

You might be thinking, “That sounds unpleasant. I started seeing a chiropractor to feel relief from the symptoms I have now, not to relive pain that I had in the past!”

While these are valid thoughts, it’s important to understand that retracing is an essential part of the healing process. The fact of the matter is, the symptoms that you started chiropractic care for are likely related to the pain from the past that you don’t want to relive. As we say in the biz, “You’ve got to feel to heal.”

The source of the symptoms you’re re-experiencing are there whether you’re feeling them or not. Prior to retracing, they’re just in your body wreaking havoc in other ways. These things don’t just magically disappear- they have to come up to come out. Through the process of retracing you are releasing these old patterns and making room for vibrant health and wellness which is what your body is ultimately designed to experience.