Three Injury Types and How They Impact Self-calming

We typically think of falls, being hit by something, or being in a motor vehicle accident as a cause of pain or mobility concerns.

These types of injuries are the leading causes of nonfatal preventable injuries treated in hospital emergency departments:
(United States, 2019)

Falls – 8,049,8822
Struck By/Against – 3,183,7723
Motor Vehicle-Occupant – 2,108,1474

What you might not realize, is that these incidents can also relate to why you are having a harder time dealing with your stress and anxiety.

Our Core = A Big Box

One analogy we like to use for the core is that of a box. If the box is intact and put together well, it supports the internal mechanisms for self-calming and regulation. When the box isn’t structurally sound, the calming mechanisms are compromised.

There are several ways a box can be damaged

We’ve all seen YouTube videos of delivery “fails” where boxes are tossed, dropped, kicked, or have something heaped on top of them.

Categorizing the effects to the box, typical impacts are:

Dented corners or sides
Squashed box
Shaken contents

What happens to you and your core when injured?

Even though our bodies may not outwardly look dented and squashed, they don’t function well. Imagine your body as a box and let’s envision how each type of the three common injuries plays out.

Falls: Often with a fall we land hard on one or two parts of our body. This is the equivalent of denting a corner or side of the box.
Struck: Being struck or being struck against something else each result in dents to corners, sides, and sometimes being squashed as a whole.
Motor vehicle: In addition to being squashed, a motor vehicle incident often involves flipping or spinning which get your core all shaken and confused.

When your core has been dented, squashed, or shaken, the Bridging® assessment framework is able to determine how the trauma impacted your calming systems.

Once the implications of the event are deciphered, we use the positional support and bounce of peanut balls to “fluff out” the sides and corners of your core. We then use wiggling and rolling movements to get your core organized. Once organized, we check to see if diaphragm movement is supporting breathing – a key component of self-calming.

Bridging® restores your core quickly and sustainably! In a recent BLOG post, I shared how poor diaphragm function impacts so many calming mechanisms. You can read more here.