Thanks Forest! I have seen that article but never had time to read it completely. So glad I did and got to the part about him finally visiting Dr Sarno. Great story and very helpful!
I was reading the responses and found a good one:
" I first read this article about a year ago when my left knee pain migrated to my left hip and butt. I did everything the author did - scoured google, found a myriad of possible diagnoses, tried treatments for every single one, etc. Just to be sure, I saw a sports doctor who took xrays and declared me perfectly healthy. With that, I eventually got bored, stopped thinking about it, and went on with training pain free. Lo and behold, the piriformis pain came back about 5 months ago, this time in my RIGHT butt and hip. So I scoured google and runnersworld pages again, remembered this article, and thought I'd come back to it if necessary. Saw another doctor, an experienced and well-timed marathoner, ultra-runner, and triathlete (obviously, totally trustworthy) who did an exam, checked me out, and declared me a sufferer of minor piriformis syndrome but otherwise healthy. Recommended PT, which I did for one session, because my therapist said I was doing all the right exercises and he couldn't do anything more to help. Also went to see and endurance running trainer, who made a couple minor adjustments to my stride but after 3 sessions declared me of perfect form and ready to train for my first ultra. All the while, the pain was coming and going.
So finally, I got Sarno's book and read a perfect and detailed description of myself - personality, characteristics, symptoms, everything - in the pages. Then, in researching TMS more, I stumbled on RunningPain.com, operated by an avid runner/personal trainer/life coach who suffered 20+ years of back & piriformis pain, did Sarno's work, and has been totally pain and ache free since, even as he still runs 80+ miles a week at 50 years old. So I called him.
I've since been practicing what he calls The Master Practice - basically Sarno's research with practical applications and daily practices - and am, for the first time since becoming a runner five years ago, finding consistent relief from my pain.
Why?
Because what Sarno says is absolutely true (and it's documented not only by his research, but by our DNA as well): there is a connection between the mind and body, and just as pain in the body sends a signal to the mind to respond appropriately to damage, so the mind sends messages to the body to respond in certain ways to emotional/mental issues.
NO. Don't misunderstand: The pain and symptoms are not "in your head." We are not making up the actual hurt in our physical bodies. The author here made that quite clear. The pain is very real, the symptoms are very real and incredibly debilitating. However, their source or cause is NOT physical. Just as the author said, and just as Sarno and hundreds of thousands of his and other TMS Doctors' patients will tell you, the pain is a physical manifestation of an emotional problem.
So...when I feel the piriformis burn, I take the focus OFF the physical (because, as compelling evidence shows, it's not an actual physical problem, caused by the body or able to be truly and permanently treated by physical means) and focus on the psychological: What am I worried/angry/stressed/tense about?
And I swear to you, it works. The mind has no more reason to distract you from the emotional cause by creating physical pain, because you're ready to acknowledge that it's not the body's problem, but the mind's.
It sounds quacky...which is why it took me over a year to give it any real thought or trial. But it works.
For more on the mind-body connection and its evidence in molecular biology and in how DNA functions (specifically how our mental/emotional state of being can literally change our DNA), check out the book 'Genome' by Matt Ridley."
