Newbie here, need advice on whether to discontinue physical strengthening with noted disuse atrophy

I have been diagnosed with tendonitis of the forearm. My two main symptoms are general weakness of the forearm, and pain in the forearm. I believe TMS is the cause of the pain, but the weakness is clearly a physical matter.

I have visible disuse atrophy at the tendon cluster just below the elbow in my right forearm as a product of over-resting the area for months, as well as actively avoiding load bearing for years, due to fear of pain and fear of re-injury. I don't believe this has anything to do with my pain symptoms however; those are clearly caused by TMS. My evidence for this is noticeable patterns of pain symptoms coinciding with emotionally stressful events, and impressive improvements in pain levels when employing treatment strategies recommended in The Mindbody Prescription. Additionally, there are other parts of my body that are out of shape/generally weak. To a lesser degree than my right arm, but nevertheless, these parts of my body never have pain. Thus the weakness is not causing the pain.

I would like to know if it will hinder TMS treatment to continue strengthening exercises in this case. I'd like to think I could exercise for the exclusive purpose of strengthening and not for pain reduction, but I know Mindbody Prescription warns against this sort of thing regardless. Perhaps I should take a break from strengthening to focus on TMS treatment, and resume training once I have conquered the pain? But I'd rather not lose any more muscle mass.

Thank you for your time.

 

I think you should do whatever exercises you want because it has nothing to do with the tms pain. It's important to resume normal life and that includes exercise. Having said that, just do what feels comfortable and reasonable. Slowly increase whatever, without putting pressure on yourself.

 

Thank you for the reply miffybunny, this is what I had hoped to year. My reason for uncertainty was that the exercises were a component of my physical therapy originally, and I was weary of continuing them interfering with repudiation of the diagnosis as the physical reason for the pain.

I will carry onward making concentrated efforts to separate the two in my mind. Thanks again

 

What she said...

I had visible atrophy to my legs after 18 months of watching Oprah and laying on ice waiting to 'get better'...and the muscles came back very quickly after reading 'Healing Back Pain'...Returning to your normal muscle mass isn't slow like body building... It's like when you shave a border collie and their fur comes back in 6 weeks and then stops... Your body knows where it needs to be... You'd probably regain it without therapy, but if you think it will expedite it, go for it... the only caveat is don't let your brain think that the therapy has anything to do with your recovery. I was lifting heavy weights again 3 weeks after reading HBP... the old way I used to before the TMS and ensuing 'physical therapy' which was actually less challenging than anything i had ever done.

and also.. remember, don't judge your recovery by looks. I was having knee pain that was TMS and the knee looked swollen and ugly. After the pain left, the knee is still swollen and ugly to this day, though I haven't had a problem in years of hard work and play... I just have an ugly right knee from years of working on it.I never bothered to look at them until I had pain (LOL)

go for it. anything you want... the harder the better.

peace

 

I can only add to the posts above this: before I had "carpal tunnel syndrom" and "RSI" which turned out to be a 100% TMS, I could barely do 10 pushups, and the tenth one felt like cruel and unusual punishment. I was told to never, ever, ever put pressure on my wrists, and I could not, due to severe pain and muscle dysfunction, for at least 18 months. Yesterday, I did four rounds of pushups, 40 each, and my wrists barely noticed them. I am 62 years old. Fear is our worst enemy.