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Your Body Keeps Score — Understanding Trauma

May 26, 2026
by Dara Clauson, OTR/L, Level 2 FPHP/TIPHP

When "It Wasn't That Bad" Still Counts

Through my recent certification as a Trauma-Informed Pelvic Health Practitioner, one of the most powerful things I learned is that trauma exists on a spectrum.

On one end, there's what we typically picture: a serious accident, a traumatic birth, a significant loss, or an assault. But chronic stress, anxiety, and depression live on this spectrum too. However, the label matters less than what's actually happening in your body — whether it overwhelmed your nervous system, and whether you had the right support and tools to move through it afterward. When it doesn't, your nervous system can respond by becoming hypervigilant, bracing, and staying on guard to do its main job, protecting you. And when protection becomes the default, relaxation stops feeling available. This can show up as symptoms like tension, pain, urgency, or difficulty relaxing during intimacy or on the toilet.

You Have the Power to Change Your Nervous System

What is so exciting is that your nervous system is incredibly malleable and remarkably adaptable. Think of your brain and nervous system like well-worn paths in the snow: our experiences and reactions carve those pathways over time, and so we most often fall back into the pattern of least resistance. However, by staying curious and practicing new responses to these patterns, we can begin to carve new, more adaptable paths that serve us better. From time to time, we may fall back into the familiar paths in the snow, but with practice, those new paths become deeper and more familiar too.

So while the body and muscles are a reflection of our nervous system's responses, the real driver is very often our stress responses in everyday life. That is what I love so much about being an occupational therapist — sure, we are also experts in addressing musculoskeletal issues, and I can provide visceral manipulation and myofascial release — but if we are only looking at the body in front of us, the muscles and the bones, and not the whole person who experiences life and the thoughts driving those patterns, we are missing a huge component of what is going on.

That's where real healing begins.

If something here touched you, remember: you deserve support, and healing is within reach. I'm here to help. Let's start a conversation about what's possible for your body and your life.

Click here to start today!

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