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Answer

First of all, I never tell my clients that their pain isn’t real, so I’d encourage you to stop doing the same. If you’re feeling pain, then the pain is real! It just might not be a structurally caused issue (have you been checked out by a doctor? How confident are you that this pain is TMS?).

Secondly, you’re at the point where doing certain exercises/activities is strongly linked with the pain. You know the pain is TMS, but when you try and convince yourself of that in the moment, it doesn’t help – the pain still shows up! As you probably already know, this is a concept that we define as “conditioned response.” You are conditioned to believe that the pain will follow after certain movements. Good news – you’re right! The pain most certainly WILL come when you do those moves – for now.

Here’s the trick – in order for that pain to go away, you have teach yourself not to care that the pain shows up. So I’d encourage you just to accept that the next time you do that exercise, your pain will show up. It’s nearly 100% reliable.

So here’s what you do: Go into the exercise knowing that your pain will show up. But, do the exercise anyway. Repeat. Then, (and here’s the tricky part) be proud of yourself for doing it! You just pushed yourself in a way that is not only psychologically hard, but also physically painful! You’re demonstrating to your pain that you’re not afraid of it. In fact, when you push through it, it’s a cause for celebration.

If you truly know your pain to be TMS, then the only power it has over you is your fear of the pain itself. Doing this exercise and teaching yourself not to care, but instead celebrate your accomplishment will being the process of eliminating the fear. I know it’s tough, but it’s possible. Just have patience, and confidence in that you can do it. Read some of the success stories here on the wiki when you start to doubt.

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