Accepting TMS diagnosis

[chroniclame]

Hello all,

I recently read Sarno's Healing Back Pain which was a very eye-opening experience as it seems it is for most. I am on to reading Mindbody Prescription in the meantime. However I am having trouble really convincing myself that my issue could really be TMS.

For context I have had dull pain in my glute on and off for the past ~5 years, it was never really a big issue until end of last year when I was in the gym 4 times a week and doing BJJ 2 times a week where the pain began to amplify. To keep this short, since then I have gone to a variety of different people on the subject, and had a "specialist" diagnose me (without a scan, I am still waiting on an MRI) with gluteal tendinopathy.

In the past month or so my physio and I have made some progress in regards to a functional issue I had on my affected side with hip internal rotation. For all of us when we walk we require a bit of internal rotation to facilitate hip extension (the movement that pushes us when we walk). My affected side we noticed struggled with this connection. Since then my function has improved and I've seen some reduction in pain.

TL;DR - Here comes my actual question:
Sarno in his Healing Back Pain book mentions to be active but also to not do anymore physical therapy to bring attention to the pain. I am really struggling with this idea because it feels counter intuitive. I feel as if I should not be fearing the pain and avoiding certain exercises.

Would it help to still do some of these exercises given that my physio and I seem to have made some ground regarding the issue?

Otherwise the pain did amplify after I came off of a rather traumatic year so the idea of this being TMS seems very reasonable.

Thank you!

 

[Baseball65]

Would it help to still do some of these exercises given that my physio and I seem to have made some ground regarding the issue?

Nope..You haven't 'gained any ground'...you have had a placebo response and I am certain, if you have TMS, it will go away with the therapist, or time or both.

I was in the best shape of my life when I came down with TMS and I was in agony. I remember thinking "what kind of shape do I need to get in??? I am like a semi-pro athlete"

I am no longer in that kind of shape and have NO pain. Most of the Chiro-PT-therapy system is a lie. It relies (like surgery) on the placebo effect.....this is about getting to the real root of the cause and if you are thinking it is 'part physical' you won't be able to cross certain bridges mentally.

You can go exercise as much as you want...but thinking it is causing or preventing pain...THAT is a problem.

I actually went back to exercising the way I USED to exercise as soon as I read HBP....Lifting weights without a care, not warming up, not stretching and not doing little wimpy easy workouts...old school 'hell and brimstone til you fall down' workouts..and all my pain went away.

TMS is 100% a defense mechanism of the mind...any pandering to the 'Medical Mythology' will hamper your recovery

 

[chroniclame]

Nope..You haven't 'gained any ground'...you have had a placebo response and I am certain, if you have TMS, it will go away with the therapist, or time or both.

I was in the best shape of my life when I came down with TMS and I was in agony. I remember thinking "what kind of shape do I need to get in??? I am like a semi-pro athlete"

Completely agree with what you've said here. At this point it seems insane to think there is a functional or structural issue at my level of activity.

You can go exercise as much as you want...but thinking it is causing or preventing pain...THAT is a problem.

This is the bit that I am struggling to comprehend. The exercises my physio gave me is essentially just a single leg deadlift (neither of us really believe in the efficacy of stretching). Let's say I want to work out my lower body/legs. I basically have to perform this movement.

In which case, do I just do it anyway? Otherwise I will just fear any lower body work which feels like the complete opposite.

 

[Baseball65]

This is the bit that I am struggling to comprehend. The exercises my physio gave me is essentially just a single leg deadlift (neither of us really believe in the efficacy of stretching). Let's say I want to work out my lower body/legs. I basically have to perform this movement.

In which case, do I just do it anyway? Otherwise I will just fear any lower body work which feels like the complete opposite.

It's about purpose and intent. Sarno says you MUST return to physical activity including the most vigorous. This is to send a message to the BRAIN that you know there is nothing 'wrong' with your self. Return means 'what you were formerly doing'

I can give you an example. I was told that my back was so Fk'd, that I risked paralysis if I even JOGGED. Pretty scary, huh?
So, I read Sarno and I believe every word I read, but I go on my afternoon walk (something that began during PT) and was still in pain..."G-damn it!!! Why am I still having symptoms. I know this is psychological!"

Then, all of a sudden I realized, "Hey..I am not a 'walker'...I am a runner, a cyclist, a thumper and a wrestler, weight lifter and general monkey....only old people walk for exercise"

So, IN SPITE of what I had been told, I immediately broke into a sprint across the field that I had been walking around for almost two years. I was pretty out of shape and almost collapsed when I got a couple hundred yeards across the field, but I was NOT Paralyzed. I was also still in pain, but it was no worse or better than it had been.

I went home and took a pencil and paper and wrote down everything I used to do before I got into the pain 'system'.... That included everything I mentioned previously. None of it was based on the fake theory of 'core strengthening'...it was all stuff that I enjoyed to be generally healthy. One of the big ones was going back to the batting cages. I went the next day. I lifted free weights with no support the next day, I got out my old Bike and began cycling around my former walking track....I even had a couple of accidents on my bike, but just got up and kept riding.

That day when I sprinted was the day I began to get better. All of my pain was gone in about two weeks from that point forward.

So you see, I had to delete everything the fallacious system had programmed me with....

Do squats. Go for a run....there are plenty of ways to work your legs w/o doing THEIR version of 'therapy'.....even Sarno broke with his own therapists because too many people were having placebo responses with the better therapists. You don't need anybody's certification on your recovery..the text of Sarno's books is plenty of direction.

I did one little cocky thing when I got better which I prolly shouln't have done...I rode my Mountain bike down the 7 miles or so to the chronic pain center. I happened to see my therapist (Who I liked) and did a donkey kick off the curb and skidded to a stop in front of him....this was the guy who babysat me while I did really easy exercises in a pool to remove the 'stress'.
His first reaction was alarm. "DUDE...you need to be CAREFUL!"

Careful is the problem. We do NOT need to be careful...it is part of the collective 'error'. And That is why I avoid the 'regular' structural world like the plague. The power of suggestion and the assumption that there is something wrong will only hinder our recovery.

Go out and exercise...without care, but rather with Joy and abandon. Nothing can hurt you. I turn 59 tomorrow and still do everything I did when I was 20 because of Sarno.

I had no therapist or forum or co-recoverists (made that word up)...I just had the Book and , praise God, enough failure to be willing to do it verbatim...and I got the promised recovery. You can have it too....I am not special.

 

[Mr Hip Guy]

Listen to baseball65 on this. You've lucked into EXPERT advice.

It would be like a novice tennis player coming across John Mcenroe on his local court.

As for me, I've been through all the PT responses to almost every "injury" a heavy-exerciser (in my case running and cycling) can encounter. I appreciate the "get stronger" mindset, but truly how strong do your hamstrings/glutes/quads/etc have to be to not cause pain???

 

[Sita]

I agree with baseball65, he's absolutely right! You listen to him and get it into your head, really read it many times until you get it.

I used to be a gymnast, I played tennis, lifted weights and many other sports. As an adult I loved lifting weights and cycling daily for 50 min after work. I never watched soap opera/movies after work and never knew the famous actors because I would come home in the afternoon and work out for an hour. Every single day. I used to live in an apartment block and I loved to take the stairs up instead of the elevator. My apartment was at level 7 so a lot of steps. I was really fast, not taking my time, no.

It's true. There is nothing wrong with your body, even if you are in pain. It doesn't matter. You can work out, dance, run, walk very fast, swim, lift weights and so on.

These days I walk fast up and down the hills where I live very early in the morning, I lift weights and do aerobics at home, do squats like a mad woman, dance, QiGong, Pilates, and cycle on a stationary bike. I'm a middle aged woman and yes I am in pain sometimes but so what? I love exercising and I love being in nature. The benefits of exercising for my mental health are higher than the body's cries for attention and pampering.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

So I agree 99.999999% with everything you say here, BB, except for the way you present this idea:

the fake theory of 'core strengthening'

So look, let's be clear: there is nothing "fake" about maintaining strong core muscles. Dr Sarno's point is that obsessing over core strengthening as a cure for back pain is counterproductive to TMS recovery. AKA magical thinking.

I can guarantee you that all of that exercise you do includes core strengthening. And speaking to you from age 73, 14 years in your future, maintaining our core strength is even more essential as we age well past the time that nature originally intended, and our bones (especially women's) inevitably become more frail. This makes fall prevention more essential, because a slip or trip that would have caused a minor strain when younger, can snap an ankle bone in someone over 70 (I see it all the time, happening to people younger than me, who have NOT been proactive about maintaining strength and aerobic activity as they slow down).

Just sayin', my friend!

 

[Baseball65]

Just sayin', my friend!

Yeah, but you already knew what I was talking about. I meant as far as the LIE that the reason we are in pain at AGE 31 is because our core isn't strong enough....when I was doing 200 sit-ups a day and running wind sprints with my son on my shoulders.

I thought about Sarno today..on my 59th Birthday, digging trenches in the rain for 6 hours with water-logged clothing and boots. We are always way stronger than THEY think we are.