I like that chart too, Kat, a good way to gain a different perspective
Glad to see that muscle tension is included part of the cycle, as something that could be considered both a result AND a cause
As you may recall, this has been my focus lately, reading books like "Explain Pain" that talk about these things feeding each other
One thing that it talks about, that isn't reflected in that chart, is that it may take more than just breaking the cycle to get an improvement. They cite evidence that with frequent usage, over the years the neural pathways carrying pain actually physically get stronger and more efficient at carrying the pain messages!
(similar to the way lifting weights, yoga, etc exercise increases our muscle strength)
So that leads to a logical conclusion, that it will take time with different neural activity, before having expectations that the pathways will begin to physically change to reflect the new patterns
I really like some of the analogies in the book. One was that the mind is like an orchestra, it is capable of learning many, many melodies, but if we just play the same tune over and over again, it only gets good at that one!
So a great thing if we can teach it some new songs now and then, so that it doesn't just reinforce the same well-worn pathways...
