Shall I start jogging?

G'day from Down Under

Looking for some advise...

Background:
I have been struggling with Sciatica for little over 3yrs now. The pain is mostly now restricted to my left butt. At times I can feel it go down behind behind the leg. This also causes numbness in the back of the thigh and tingling like sensation in the left heel.

I'm reading Steve Ozanich's The Great Pain Deception and in it he followed Dr Sarno's recommendation on engaging in physical activities that one stops doing due to pain. I'm slowly starting to go back at doing activities and exercises I was afraid of before.

Such as, sitting at work longer (I have a sit stand desk, I used to stand for 8hrs at work), doing exercises in the gym that I used to stay away from, bending as I should (without being creative), picking heavy stuff etc.

But, I can't jump (as in skip/ rope) or jog without pain. My q's is whether I should start persevering through the pain? From what I understand one needs to recondition the mind...Should I grind through the pain and start on slow jogs....?

Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

Hey Bro... Great Dog!

Yep. It's time. I will share a vignette with you about my 'breakthrough' day with challenging the pain (I was a 100% book cure)

I was walking the track at VNSO park in Los Angeles. I had read HBP and was certain that I had TMS, but as I walked my sciatica/pain was still present. I was a little pissed that the symptoms were lingering.... I mean after all, I had known about TMS for a whole week now?

As I walked I contemplated the pain... it had already began to subside, but I hadn't tried anything gnarly. VNSO park is a famous 'walking' track for older 'mature' people. I looked at my co-walkers and all of a sudden I had a Satori... I NEVER walked that track... I have RUN that track and I have Cycled that track, but I only began those daily walks as part of the rehab from the Back-pain industry (which had failed me utterly)

Now.. I stopped and thought. I had been warned that I risked permanent paralysis if I ever ran again....

But , that advice came from people who believed in the 'structural mythology'.

F. it. I turned OFF the track and broke into a dead sprint.... a rather wobbly one as my legs had atrophied quite a bit. None the less, I crossed the grass where I used to play baseball and football as a kid (not the old peoples walking track).... and the pain? was still there a little... but it was NOT any worse, and I certainly wasn't paralyzed. I Ran home, threw away the thera-bands and dragged out my dumbbells and began to lift weights... heavy ones. I think I went to the batting cage the next day. I just kept ignoring the pain and turning my focus to A. How easily condition-able and subject to suggestion we are (not fun for the ego) and B. Turning my attention to sources of irritation in my life.

I began to cycle the track and Run the track, but I never walked it again.The pain was gone soon.

I did my best to not count days (per Sarno's warning) but the return to hard activity actually triggered the lionshare of the 'recovery'. That was in '99...obviously mi cuerpo is still toodling around restriction free.... it does take some inner searching, but it is there for all of us... total healing

peace

 

Go for it! My jogging story: Between 2006 and 2009, I'd read Sarno's MBC 5 times, the Divided Mind, and Brady's book. Plus, from 2007-2009 I was getting mindbody myofascial release therapy. With all that, I made remarkable progress but still had daily pain, just at lower levels and much more manageable, but not yet completely gone. When I'd try to jog, I'd still get increased pain.

Then in 2012 I read SteveO's GPD. The next day I went out and jogged, focusing on all the areas of my body that DIDN'T hurt. And it worked! It didn't hurt my neck while jogging and it didn't spike it up after!

I even started getting a pain in my knee while I was jogging that day that caused me to limp for a few steps (note, it was my neck, head, and back that usually hurt). Then I literally laughed at my knee and that pain immediately disappeared. And to this day I can jog without my pain spiking.

 

Thanks Baseball65 and healingfromchronicpain for sharing your experience. This is really inspiring. I will give it a go this week and report back. I want to get back into playing sports I have been avoiding all this time...

Thank you again for taking out the time responding to my thread.

Cheers

 

Guys,

Just thought I should provide some update...

I went jogging that week as I had said above and I have been running every wknd up and down the hill (5 times/session) with my partner. It is unbelievable to me that I'm running again. Mind you there is pain when I run, but not something that can't cope with. I'm just ecstatic about this. I'm dong things that I used to restrict myself to before.

I will provide another update once I start playing tennis again...

 

Yay!! Congrats!! Very exciting!!

 

Once you have crossed the mental threshold of resuming vigorous physically activity, you are moving towards the final stretch of your recovery.

 

JUST DO IT! I started walking and progressed.... I was 3 months off my feet sofa bound.... just ran my second half marathon. Read read success stories and read them again . Go gradually. You need time to convince your sub that everything is fine. I could not jump rope either and had no lower back muscle strenght for leg lifts. As you progress and the autonomic starts to relax the oxygen and release feeling will get better. I could not run or jump but I could ice skate powerfully with powerful strides for 1 hour. TMS is very illogical some times and that is the tricky part working your brain. You have Steve's book , everything you need is there.

 

excellent! Keep going!

 

Its good to know you started running, this will speed up your recovery....