You have pain in the base of your thumb. Is it arthritis? Is it a problem with the bones?
Or could it be a muscle issue?
The good news is:
Most of the time pain is caused by muscles. That’s good news because muscles can be treated with massage and pressure and they can get better. When your muscles are happy, your pain goes away.
But that’s my opinion. And the opinion of lots of great minds in the bodywork & natural medicine fields. In fact, I learned it from them. 🙂
I saw an interesting article by a conventional medical doctor. (I’m sorry I cannot share the link anymore. It broke. That happens.)
It’s an interesting article for several reasons. One of the reasons that jumped out at me is when the doctor said the tests of patients may show arthritis but they don’t have pain.
Hmmm. What could that mean?
Well, it could mean that muscles are causing the pain when it occurs.
The doctor mentions bones. He mentions tendinitis (inflammation or swelling of a tendon.) Tendons are the attachment ends of muscles but not the belly of the muscle.
There wasn’t a single reference to muscles in the whole article.
He did do a good job of explaining arthritis but most doctors really learn very little about muscles as a cause of pain in medical school.
And I like that he said to educate yourself. When you understand how your body works you’ve got a good chance to get better.
Just get rid of the causes of your pain. The pain will go away.
Here’s a trick question:
Which comes first–the cause or the symptom? (A symptom is pain, numbness, etc.)
The answer is the cause is always first.
Arthritis is a symptom. Something caused it. Usually the cause was using muscles in an out-of-balance way.
That’s why movement like yoga is so successful at helping people get rid of their pain. It uses ALL of the muscles in your body and helps get them back in balance. (If you click the ‘yoga‘ link it will take you to an interview with a yoga practitioner.)
Happy muscles = less pain. Maybe no pain at all!
