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The Power of Routine has been discussed in many settings. Often the language being used can change with the setting, even if the principles are the same. I'll give some examples to clarify:

At work we might have a weekly schedule of routine tasks and activities, I've seen this referred to as a default diary, or daily checklist among others. The key thing being, that certain tasks need to be done and there is some sort of structure that plans-out and helps with the management of them getting completed, without missing key components.

At home and in our personal lives there may be a routine of what happens getting ready in the morning before work/college or study. Equally there may be a routine of how we get the kids ready in the morning and what we do in the evening; clubs, activities, engaging with friends/family, winding down with some TV or reading. This routine is much less often written down but nonetheless exists.

The combination of these two, work and home/personal routine can fill up the entirety of the day for many people, meaning there is potentially no time for other things.

But for a routine to nurture us, to support wellbeing and thereby allow us to manage stress and its contribution to pain we could consider whether our routine contains all the ingredients that we could really be doing with right now.

It may be worth considering where in the routine unwinding and recovery would sit at present, where is social interaction, where is varied exercise and movement, where is personal and professional development?

The Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman in his book Thinking Fast and Slow explores at length how our initial responses to situations are to oversimplify reactions and thoughts meaning we can quickly conclude that there is no space for anything new in the routine. If we allow ourselves time to truly consider what happens in our week and break it down, thinking more slowly about how our time is spent, we are likely to find that there are many opportunities to modify the routine. 

The trick of course is to not change too much at once, which would otherwise risk destabilising the routine that we had in the first place. Of course it's good to change things up, but if we're looking for long term outcomes it's better to perform multiple small course corrections along the way rather than assume one huge course correction is suddenly going to be the right answer.

The elegant metaphor of the Chimp Paradox by Prof. Steve Peters, which draws many parallels with the work of Daniel Kahneman, we can consider the structure of the brain as hierarchically illustrated with the reptilian brain consisting of very basic brainstem functions, emotional reactions likes and dislikes, needs and desires as being the Chimp, and then strategic thought and complex construct exploration as being the Human. The Chimp thinks fast and powerfully and the Human thinks slower. 

Crucially for both of these constructs, using whichever chimes best to your way of thinking, when we are tired, stressed, threatened or in pain we are far more likely to react fast or allow the Chimp to take over. While this can be hugely helpful as a survival instinct, it is not the strategic thinking that is likely to result in the best long-term outcomes.

This situation of thinking fast under high pressure, stress and pain is common to many people seeking treatment with their chiropractor, (yes I have just drawn the analogy that getting chiropractic treatment can be like getting the Chimp to solve the problem. Bear in mind I'm saying that as a chiropractor of over 16 years experience). Pain is encouraging a change to be made and manual treatments that chiropractors and other manual therapists provide can be a major help to people reducing the current pain experience. 

The best long-term outcomes are to be achieved when incorporating slow thoughts and routine changes as well. So consider when attending an appointment what the Human chiropractor is saying, and what your Human could take from that. If there are suggestions of routine modifications, ask yourself how you might incorporate these changes for better outcomes. How could you make changes that could be nurturing rather than stressful. Nurturing can still be challenging, but it builds up in a way that allows for sustainability with both challenge and recovery built in.

Footnote: Some of these concepts are worth exploring with your chiropractor but equally can be useful points of discussion with your physiotherapist, osteopath, psychotherapist or personal trainer depending on the team you are working with at present.

Further reading:

The Chimp Paradox, Prof Steve Peters, Vermillon London.

Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, Penguin Books.

The little black book of training wisdom, Dr Dan Cleather.