100% TMS ? Pain as early age 13 - high intensity sports

Edit 6/24/20:
Right now, I am concerned about left foot/ankle/knee pain that I experience. I haven't fully been able to think away this pain and there is a divot in my lower left quad.




So I polevaulted, year-round, ages 12-18, which are some quite physically formative years. Polevaulting is one of the most difficult AND repetitively lopsided sports in the world. I was nationally ranked so I was doing a intense sport, intensely.

Simultaneously, I played volleyball ages 11-16, in the Fall. And swam ages 7-12 in the Summer (2000-2005).

I'm 26 now and have experienced chronic pain for the past 12 years. I started volleyball Fall 2006, where a coach told me at the end of the season I was going to wreck my shoulder if I kept serving the way I did.

I started diving in the summer of 2006 and did that in summer 2007 also. Fall 2006 I played volleyball and kept serving the way I was because I was good at it.
Started track/polevaulting in spring 2007. Played volleyball in Fall 2007 and *started P.T. for my shoulder in the beginning of 2008, which wasn't helpful--or good P.T.* as I came to find out. I remember bringing it up to my mom and she brushed it off as growing pains--brought it up maybe every month/every couple months and then less because I was suppose to grow out of it.

jan 2008 pt
jan 2009 ~fall 2009 pt

Continued to run track/polevault. And play volleyball, that ending in Fall 2009 because I was having shoulder and now connected back pain and P.T. wasn't helping me with that (yes, I went back for my shoulder/back Fall? 2009) Got an MRI for the shoulder which was normal. I remember not being able to sleep on my shoulder--figured the shoulder/back pain was from volleyball, and to give it up, and I was better at polevaulting anyway.

The pain never really went away. Summer 2010 I spent the summer being treated for left foot pain to no avail. All the pain was debilitating to the point I developed hip/foot pain and couldn't walk without pain, or polevault Fall 2010 age 16. Did find a great P.T. who got me polevaulting again, but I was wrapped up with tape.

Had a concussion Dec 2013 symptoms lasting heavily for 2 years--still on/off light sensitivity. Jan. 2013 bumped head and concussion symptoms came back. Now in P.T. for neck/shoulder.

I yelled at neck, elbows, left knee, and shoulder pain to stop it and got all but shoulder to relax.

I am 1000% am experiencing TMS to a large degree--accepted the diagnosis and shortly after have seen amazing progress--did pushups! which I haven't attempted for years. However, the hours spent in/out P.T. since 2008, Polevaulting being one of the most difficult AND repetitively lopsided sports in the world, and shoulders known for being one of the most complex/tricky joints to rehab., the progress I've made/having limited resources for P.T., I am cautious to accept the TMS diagnosis 100% for my shoulder.

I am at the tail end of P.T. for my shoulder.

Edit:
See below for shoulder update.

 

Ok, it has to be TMS for my shoulder: when I relax/tell this new clicking in my shoulder to go away, it does. Normal pain doesn't do that: TMS does.

Naturally, my shoulder is going to be sore returning to physical activity, doing physical activity more vigorously, living life more vigorously and physically--and doing push-ups, pull-ups 2 years after not attempting them. Stuff is going to be moving around, of course

Normal pain can't be thought away. Normal pain can't be ignored and go away. TMS pain can. Wow, that's a relief !!!

 

There ya go

 

Thanks Jan

Now, I am concerned about a clicking in my foot/foot/ankle pain ... that's not new and has been around since polevaulting days (~2009). Did not initially list this as the other joints have been more debilitating--and honestly it's been difficult to keep track of all the pain. I was hoping that it would just go away with the TMS diagnosis acceptance! Last note: had prolo-therapy done on the ankle in 2010, where they burn part of the tendon so it heals stronger.

What concerns me in the intensity/duration of exercise and the complexity of the foot/it's unique load bearing quality compared to other joints, i.e. supporting the body, constantly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

It's almost amusing how when we want to obsess on a particular area we are 'amazed' at it's abilities and are certain God didn't mean for us to do them or we are evolutionary compromised. What's a bit funnier is your the second YOUNG person in two days to think that you've somehow overused your body.
People have done very difficult physical tasks repetitively since time immemorial. If you don't believe me, go and pick crops for a few days and let me know how 'relaxed' you feel.

There is a lucrative industry with a horse in the race that had a vested interest in teaching you how fragile you are... the ortho-medical-juggernaut. Believe me , I live in one of the medical capitals of the world... people's TMS has funded large portions of My cities wealth (Nashville, Tn). HCA has a MONORAIL for their employees so they don't have to walk from the parking lot....all paid for by our foolishness in believing their story of how very fragile we are and how we would fall apart if they weren't here to fix us.

If you read "Healing Back Pain", Dr. Sarno described those sounds and compared them to cracking of the knuckles... I personally have sounds in my shoulders,jaw, hip , knees and sometimes my ankles when I first start airing it out before a game or a workout....since I learned they are benign I simply ignore them.

I swing a baseball bat every day about a hundred times at full force...maybe two hundred on a game day. Three hundred on days like today when I have a hitting workout... I have no 'lopsided' problems and it is a very lopsided activity. Sometimes I get a little spasm in my obliques and I laugh, drink a little water and say 'f u, go away'...and it does.

I throw 4-500 throws in a batting practice... I have no arm problems and I turn 55 this summer. I read Sarno and do NOT believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or injury....so I have never seen them. Ok...maybe Santa Claus, but the Easter bunny is bULLSHIT!

When we learn about TMS what we begin to learn about is ourselves... our petty childhood angers and how we embarrassingly have moved forward in life without addressing them.. we learn we are not dynamic unique snowflakes but rather very ordinary people under a lot of stress, quite a bit of which comes from being the most technologically harassed people in history... your great grandfather never had traffic jams, cable bills, Twitter mobs, 24/7 news and outrage, a cell phone or political correctness to fear...

They had lives full of challenges, but they were stable and came at a slower pace... and they worked liked teamster horses and managed to win a few world wars, feed themselves and the earth and build an infrastructure that still stands today.

So... we aren't that fragile. at least PHYSICALLY.

peace

 

It will. If you ever actually accept the TMS diagnosis!

I actually didn't read most of your original post, or most of the second one, because there was no emotional content, which is what we are interested in exploring here. The excruciating detail of physical symptoms and all of the tedious events leading to them is not only entirely irrelevant to an acceptance of TMS, it is proof that you ain't there yet.

As always, if you have a real concern, see a medical professional. If you've done that and are moving on, stop thinking physically and start thinking psychologically. And above all, stop discussing and explaining your symptoms!

This is your brain, trying to convince you that these are important, that you need to keep analyzing them so that you will not have time or energy left to examine your emotions.

I suggest you read stories in the Success Stories subforum. You'll find that success follows when the individual first stops obsessing over physical symptoms.