An Olympic size case of TMS

[North Star]

What did we do before the days of the internet? I could just sit around for hours and look up random junk…especially while watching TV. (Eg, How old was Mickey Rooney when he died? What was the name of the song in that commercial?) My squirrel brain doesn't pay attention to the TV very well!

But sometimes I uncover a little morsel. I was looking up the Olympic figure skaters ("creeping" as my kids would say), when I read on Wikipedia this on figure skater Ashley Wagner:

2010–2011 season[edit]
A racing heartbeat which had long bothered Wagner became more frequent during the summer before the 2010–11 season. She also began to suffer violent full-body muscle spasms which her coach Priscilla Hill said were "some of the most horrific things I've ever seen."[32] She saw a number of physicians who were unable to determine the cause. Finally, chiropractor and muscle specialist Steve Mathews revealed that tension in her neck muscles was causing one of her vertebrae to be pushed out of place, squeezing various nerves; a physical therapy program reduced the problems.

Sounds like Olympian TMS to me. And she totally fits the profile. You can see the intense drive in her eyes. And when you read about her training and back ground all the bells start ringing.

And then there's the placebo cure. I'm learning to rethink all these theories and when I read about her vertebrae being pushed out of place I felt like screeching, "What a bunch of hooey!"

So I guess my knowledge therapy IS changing my view on the things I used to embrace as "science".

 

[Ellen]

It is amazing how you start to see TMS everywhere once you know the signs.

 

[Eric "Herbie" Watson]

This is an awesome evaluation North Star. You know your stuff. Every bit tms for sure. Bless You

 

[LindaRK]

You have to realize that she is probably not the only Olympian experiencing that ..... they are all driven and push themselves so hard. Look at the emotions they expel immediately after their event. The entire Olympic entourage could probably benefit from a staff TMS doctor. Can you even imagine that!?

 

[North Star]

You are such an encourager, Herbie! Thanks!

Ellen, it is amazing. Knowing about TMS reframes everything when it comes to observing aches and pains. LindaRK, oh yeah. Oh yeah.

 

[Gigalos]

Look up Sven Kramer, a long distance skater.
He is the guy who lost a sure gold medal on the 10km in Vancouver due to a wrong change of lanes caused by his coach.
The season after he had back problems and had to stop skating for a whole season. The back problems eventually went away only to reappear in Sochi a couple of days before the 10km..... in which he came second by the way.

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

I've watched a lot of the Olympics and came to the conclusion that most of the contestants are self-driven
and perfectionists with personalities that drive them to be the best in the world.
That must cause them a lot of TMS stress, and like Kramer they may have a lot of anger-rage from
experiences and performances of the past. Maybe their parents drive them to drive themselves.

I always preferred the theory that it isn't the winning that's so important, it's the doing, and
doing a sport because you like to do it, not to win medals or trophies and get on the nightly news
or cereal boxes.

I also wish the Olympics was not national. Just athlete against athlete without national identity.

 

[jazzhands]

I was thinking about this recently, not just the Olympics but all pro athletes have such an incredible amount of stress and attention and you see them go down with TMS-style injuries all the time. Because their livelihood depends on being in peak physical condition, you often see them go straight for the surgical route which is a real shame.

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Athletes ought to have more in their life than winning.
I was never a jock. I loved tennis and golf, but in grammar school and high school
I was always the last kid to be picked for a relay team. I cared more about writing
and being on the school papers.