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• The universe could be explained completely through the use of mathematics; mathematical models of the universe were accurate physical descriptions of the universe.• The universe operated in a completely rational and predictable way following the mathematics used to describe the universe; the universe, then, was mechanistic.
• One need not appeal to revealed religion or theology to explain any aspect of the physical phenomena of the universe.
• All the planets and other objects in the universe moved according to a physical attraction between them, which is called gravity; this mutual attraction explained the orderly and mechanistic motions of the universe.
Newton's mechanistic view of the universe would soon be applied to other phenomena as well, until all of modern Western knowledge was saturated by it. Now the majority of our experience is filtered through or shaped by mechanistic thinking.
It’s not surprising, then, that medicine has adopted a mechanistic, or mechanical, view of the body as well. The body is seen as a mechanical collection of components rather than an intricately functioning entity. While this is appropriate in certain facets of medicine like surgery or the treatment of a particular disease, a mechanical view has fallen short in its illumination of many factors which lead to lower back pain.
For example, we think of “fixing” the problem in our backs as though something there is broken and can be repaired. While it’s true that a small percentage of back pain sufferers require surgical intervention or other invasive strategies, most do not. The vast majority of back pain is caused by strain and spasm brought on by muscular compensation. And these muscular issues are intimately connected to every aspect of ourselves: our physical, mental, emotional, functional, behavioral, and spiritual selves.
A Somatic View of the Body
We are used to going to the doctor and being told what’s wrong with us. In certain cases, this is appropriate. But this reliance has led to a kind of sensory laziness in which many of us have grown out of touch with our bodies. For example, I see many clients who are unaware that they hold their abdominal muscles clenched or that they do not breathe diaphragmatically. Clenched abdominals and shallow breathing, which often are companion problems, are two potentially predisposing factors for lower back pain.
In his groundbreaking work, Somatics: Reawakening the Mind’s Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health, Thomas Hanna describes what happens when bodily awareness increases:
It is a wonderful neurological fact that increasing bodily awareness means increasing neurological sensory awareness, and that this sensory awareness of the muscles goes hand in hand with voluntary control of the muscles. this is because the sensory-motor system is a “feedback loop”: in other words, if you cannot sense it , you cannot move it, and the more you can move it, the more you will sense it. This is a rule of the sensory-motor system, one solid part of the neurophysiological foundation of somatic education.
A somatic view of the body, then, embraces a more complex and a more complete view. Self-sensing and self-awareness are paramount, and a thorough assessment of our physical, mental, emotional, functional, behavioral, and spiritual selves is vital. A somatic view of the body means looking from the inside out as well as the outside in.
Without a somatic view of the body, it is difficult to discern the complex web of potential causes that can lead to back pain.
More about a somatic view of the body at the Hanna Somatic Education page
Order Somatics: Reawakening the Mind’s Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health:
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