how come trauma when young can lead to chronic pain?
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Think of an apple with a baby ant in it. Eventually the ant will be big and the apple will be gone. It’s that simple
Trauma can cause the nervous system to get stuck in fight or flight ,which is where stress sits. Stress and pain create a cycle. Something hurts, you tense,hold your body more rigidly which then makes the nervous system feel like it’s under attack,causes more stress which then causes more pain. Unresolved trauma causes more stress which causes more tension on the nervous system which causes more pain and the cycle continues..
This is part of a recent area of study called Psychoimmunology.
Basically emotional trauma can affect the nervous system in the long term. You know when you have that fight or flight rush of adrenaline when you get scared? If that happens enough, if enough of the stress hormone cortisol is pumped around your young body regularly, it can permanently change how your genes express as you age, and can permanently alter your body/brain chemistry.
Your body becomes stuck in fight or flight in the long term. This is only supposed to be a short term reaction, and long term it simply exhausts your body and mind. It has been show to alter biology and lead to more illnesses, pain, and mental health issues across your lifespan. Its effects are pretty much inevitable once the damage has been done.
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