do I really HAVE to stop Physical Therapy ?

I am working towards excepting John Sarnos methods and my own belief in TMS. In his book Dr. Sarno says it is imperative that you immediately stop physical therapy… I am willing to try has best I can to except Dr. Sarnos concepts and methods, but I must say I am not willing to immediately give up every other method that I have been trying to deal with my pain?



I would be interested in knowing peoples opinion on this… And if I will possibly see any results without stopping physical therapy thanks

 

That's a fundamental tenant of TMS recovery. Any doubt plays into your subconscious gremlin mind to detour you from overcoming TMS symptom distractions. You can't be on the fence on this one or it will prevent "healing" or prolong acceptance in the recesses of your mind.

You can do physical activity to discharge pent-up energy like getting a massage to balance out the rage/soothe ratio. But doing PT for the express purpose of fixing something structural that is "broken" that isn't will be a placebo cure.

You have to turn that switch in your mind to stop the pain-- then sleep on it. Changing your mind is a lot quicker and cheaper then a dozen sessions of PT.

Have you been checked out by a doc for anything serious? What's your DX? What's your PT?

 

Thanks so much for your reply, I have two main issues that I'm seeing physical therapy about



The first is long-term back/hip/shoulder/muscle/leg fibromyalgia type pain..... For this I am doing a bunch of postural strengthening and stretching stuff.



And I have been diagnosed with a pinched nerve in my cervical spine… Symptoms only occur when my neck moves certain ways… There is no pain just numbness and tingling… Physical therapy is traction and massage, considering a steroid injection as prescribed by my orthopedist



I have a hard time believing that this pinched nerve is TMS… Maybe my mind will change over time… But when my head moves only in certain directions there is a clear electric nerve impulse that shoots down my arm no pain, and not all the time

 

Ergo, it's not easy to follow Dr. Sarno's theory to stop physical therapy, but he says it's very important in healing,
maybe even essential. The pain isn't structural, it's psychological. And healing requires total TMS belief.

You're still not completely convinced it's TMS.

And Steve Ozanich and others say don't do any exercise in hopes of strengthening the painful area.
Just exercise for general good health and try to forget any part of your body hurts. Spend time on doing
things that make you happy. It may all sound like Pollyanna or Mary Poppins, but it's how we heal,
say the experts.

 

Thanks Walt , I will do my best to move in the direction , I guess it might take a little time fot my skepticism to leave completely

 

Stopping physical therapy and all other forms of simliar therapy was very difficult for me. It felt like Dr. Sarno was asking me to jump into the deep end of the pool even though I didn't know how to swim with the promise that I would eventually learn to swim before I drowned.

After a while of not seeing any results from any of these therapies I had to admit after reading Steve Ozanich's book that I was just wasting my time and money on the therapies. I'm not sure I would have been as certain as I am now that I have TMS had I not gone through years of failed physical treatments that proved not to work as well as they promised.

Pay attention to when you're given theories in physical therapy that don't make sense. As part of this process I realized that I've had to consistantly remind myself why the physical explanations that I've been given don't make sense. I've also been told I have a pinched nerve in my neck but I experience pain in my arm and my hand sometimes gets numb at night. How is it possible for you and I to have the same diagnosis and yet have different symptoms?

 

I had the exact same sounding pain in the neck as you many years ago pre-TMS awakening. I had to walk around my arm above my head to "un-pinch" the "nerve". Sent to neuro-doc by my PCP. Dx'ed by EMG black box nerve voltage meter gizmo, (looked like a quack box), as pinched C6/C7. CO-INCIDENATTLY was going through a very stressful break-up at the time--(see the Rahe-Holmes Stress List). The neuro/white coat ORDERED the traction bag thing for a month--"OR I'LL BE SEEING YOU FOR SURGERY".

Bored to death sitting in the corner doing traction thirty minutes a day, STRETCHING my neck. Passed the time constructively reading a good spiritual/sports book by Dan Millman, "WARRIOR ATHLETE"-- and learned how to write left handed--using the other hemisphere. Lo/behold, as the doc ordered, pain gone in a month (placebo effect)-- most sports injuries heal in a few weeks by the body's own healing process anyway.

I've gotten the same pain in the neck/shoulder/arm several times since. I don't go to a doc, (went once for arm pain thinking maybe it was a heart-attack symptom--doc laughed in my face-- and rx'ed PT at the clinic conveniently located next door--didn't take him up on it.) I keep swimming, running in the pool, swinging the racket and the pain fades away in it's own TMS due course time, maybe a few days, or weeks.

The more I believe TMS causes the pain, the faster it fades. "How do you stay out of surgery?"--READ, READ, READ, TMS books. Of course, see a doc to get the hell scared out of you and to make sure it's nothing serious. They're good at finding the serious and cutting too. Armed with TMS KNOWLEDGE, you may have to join in to make some of your health care decisions--docs don't generally get involved with psychosomatic causalities for pain except to rx a Xanax now and then.

 

I do not see 'doctors'. Rather, I seek PA's, or FNP's. They are far more open-minded. My FNP told me that she wished all her fibromyalgia patients were like me. She understands that the situation is psychosomatic. She fully approves my desire to eliminate the pills, my attitude, and my belief that I can conquer this. She will give me the pills as long as I want them, and support my choices for how I handle the situation. I have seen her in action when the situation warrants it ... my husband has advanced degenerative arthritis from a nearly fatal series of knee surgeries. She promptly referred him 'up the chain'. She isn't passive. She simply ... listens. A very nice quality in a medical practitioner.

What most people lack is a fundamental core of believe in their own strength. Almost everything we need is already within us. We just have to unlock all the preconceived notions, and life-long brainwashing. The things we believe have been told to us .. ingrained. This is what we must challenge. Question everything. We are not weak, but we have been weakened by the onslaught of negative messages. We are not fragile, but we have been taught to be dependent on authority. We are not mindless, yet we blindly follow the media, or any person who appears to be in charge.

My icon on this forum says 'guru'. It is a label, and it means nothing. I am not an authority. I am a variation of you. We are all smokey mirrors of each other. Like being in the school system, we are simply at different grade levels. Not smarter, not stronger ... just more aware as we gain growth and knowledge.

Every one here has what it takes ... you just have to set your mind, be clear on your goals, and work at it. Remembering this: It is the journey that matters.

with grace and gratitude,
^_^

 

I started getting better from the time I read Dr Sarno back in 2009 (was it?), but I didn't start REALLY getting better until I completely abandoned PT two years ago around March 2012. Sure, I thought I was hedging my bet by still going to PT while doing the mental work involved in Dr Sarno's TMS recovery program. However, the PT continued to focus my attention on my body and its physical symptoms, so they persisted. As he is so much of the time, Dr Sarno was absolutely right: you can't have it both ways. I would have gotten better a heck of a lot sooner if I'd stayed away from PT like the plague from the moment I started TMS therapy by journaling, deep breathing and repeating the Dr Sarno's Twelve Reminders in Healing Back Pain on a daily basis. I have to admit that lately I have been doing some stretching to counter the muscle spasms driving the sciatica in my left leg and hip. However, I've developed the ability through mindfulness meditation to mentally control the muscle spasms. I tell them to release as I stretch further. But this is more a matter of developing mental control over your symptoms, not by overpowering them by stretching and pulling the muscles apart. Glad I've acquired this new skill too. But I wouldn't have if I'd continued going to PT and repeating all those stretching exercises. Begin with the psychological first and the physical is sure to follow.

 

This has been really hard for me as well. I went to PT for my knees and she basically had me do my workout routine but modified a bit.

What I found that's helps me is to change your exercises slightly. PT had me doing box squats. Now I do goblet squats. Squats are pretty much squats but one, in my mind, was for broken me and one is now for bikini me.

I kept all "regular" exercises, like squats, hamstring curls, calf raises - a routine every weightlifter uses - and ditched all the "exercises for broken me", like TKEs, an exercise used only for rehab.

I noticed a decrease in pain right away.