I wasn’t really surprised at first and I told her so. In such exceptional times many people experience a lot of uncertainty. What is the next step? When can you go back to work? When can I meet my friends again and when can I hug them?
Pain-intensifying situations
Exactly such thoughts and uncertainties can be a kind of amplifier for pain. In addition, there is usually a reduction of movement – partly reduced to the own 4 walls – which is not beneficial. This in turn is partly associated with being alone. The feeling of loneliness.
Because unfortunately it is also true that being together in the family is not always synonymous with a cosy atmosphere. Statistics on domestic violence prove this. In France, for example, the number of assignments for domestic violence increased by up to 36% after the initial restriction was imposed. Addiction experts of the Blue Cross also see a danger in the increase in alcohol consumption during the period of the COVID-19 measures.
All these factors can therefore have a negative influence on the pain or healing process. It is therefore not surprising that complaints have increased during the COVID-19 measures.
Two sides of a medal
When the customer left again, I thought about it again. Then I noticed that on the other hand there are many pain-reducing factors during this time.
On the one hand, it gave many people the opportunity to break out of the hamster wheel of everyday life a little. It gave people time for themselves. Time to leave the stress of everyday life behind a little and to decelerate. And there were families who would have liked to spend more time together, exactly that.
“It’s not a bad thing”
The next customer showed me what it means to have the right attitude towards the situation. He told me how he had had a lumbago during this phase. But it did not worry him. He had known how unfamiliar the situation was for him and he felt that it had stressed him a little. At the same time, he hadn’t been moving so much and had not slept well at times. In addition, he had hay fever, which had robbed him of some of his resources. But his back, he said, did not worry him. He knew that under such a strain his back might hurt at times, but he was sure that nothing bad would happen.
This reflectiveness and also a certain calmness helped him to get through the pain episode with movement and adequate load quite fast and well.
It also depends on how we deal with the respective situation and what attitude we have. The attitude towards a pain can itself already strengthen or dampen it, but also external circumstances such as:
- Work
- Sleep
- Fears / Worries
- Experiences
- Social Distancing
In this spirit: stay positiv!
Bibliography:
https://twitter.com/VALP/status/1243288744276492290
http: //www.nau.ch/news/schweiz/wegen-coronavirus-alkoholkonsum-in-der-schweiz-steigt-an-65690351