Today I visited the Santa Monica Health and Fitness Festival, a local one day event hosted here in Santa Monica. It was a modest but very nice fair on the third street promenade, with all stands from local businesses and organizations who work with health in any kind of way represented.
I walked around talking to all people who had anything to do with pain and pain management, which apart from UCLA Department of Medicine turned out to be people coming from very different schools. There were several chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists, but also clinicians working with techniques like egoscue and biofeedback, plus a few yoga studios, nutritionists and energy healers.
Going from table to table I realized - once again - that the field dealing with chronic pain is vast and constantly developing. It was great to get some inspiration and see presentations of different methods, but also very interesting to hear what different doctors and therapists had to say about chronic pain and how to treat it. After 15 years as a professional patient it was very interesting to go to this kind of event just to mingle, listen, network and get inspiration.
When you suffer from chronic disease, chances are that you become isolated. Getting out and meeting people who are interested in health and healing may not be top of your priority list, but it could turn out to give you some important pointers for your healing journey and provide new pieces to fill in blank spots in your pain-puzzle.
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