Back Pain is Caused Physically...

What percentage of back pain IS caused by Stenosis, Disc degeneration, bulging, Pinched nerve...etc. and NOT Mental/Emotional?

 

Tiny percentage.

All painless conditions. Dr. Sarno says a pinched nerve is dead and cannot cause pain. Yet the story of "pinched nerves" causing pain continues to be told.

I was told I had large herniated discs and that surgery was the only way to make the pain go away. I chose not to and went with Dr. Sarno. I am back pain free for TEN years now. YAY! Took effort, but was well worth it and changed my life--and my beliefs.

My dad is told he has stenosis. He does not believe it is a painless condition and he has back pain. yet he is the biggest worrier I have ever met. So I'm not surprised he still has pain. Wish I could help; he saw me in agonizing pain 10 years ago and my quick recovery. Yet he is not a believer in his emotions causing his pain. Sad.

 

Very small percentage in my opinion. The studies show poor correlation between MRI of people's spines and back pain...many with few abnormalities on imaging and TONS of pain, and many with lots of abnormalities on imaging and no pain!

Another thing is that a herniated disc MIGHT cause pain when it first happens...but this should decrease over a period of a few weeks. For some it turns to chronic pain aka TMS, for some it doesn't.

Last thing- there is a SMALL percentage of people (i'm pretty sure its 1 in like 40,000) who has a severely herniated disc or other issue causing a mechanical issue with the end of the spinal cord, aka inability to go to the bathroom. This is VERY RARE but if it happens its a emergency situation. I don't know anyone who this has happened to

 

If you take a 100 people without back pain randomly off the street and give them MRIs, you will find that 70% of them have spinal abnormalities. On the other hand, if you take a random sample of 100 people with lower back pain and give them MRIs, you will discover that 70% of them have spinal abnormalities (bulging disks, stenosis, scoliosis, herniations etc etc. etc). The only firm conclusion you can draw from these statistics is that there is no demonstrable correlation between occurrences of lower back pain (LBP) and the appearance of spinal abnormalities. I understand that there is some statistical correlation between spinal abnormalities and the occurrence of lower back pain later on. I think Dr Sarno speculates that this is because the mind tends to locate pain at sites where structural abnormalities occur. Given these statistics, I would say that most cases of LBP have body-mind origins and not caused by spinal abnormalities at all. Of course, LBP can occur in cases of cancer and other autoimmune disorders, so it's very important to get checked out by an M.D. to confirm that your LBP is not caused by one of these life-threatening conditions. After that's proved out, you might as well turn to Dr Sarno's body-mind methods (affirmations, journaling, spider writing etc.) - the techniques available here on the Wiki in the Structured Education Program (SEP).

 

I would love for this too be true (not structural issue) but like all the other things that I have tried including standing on my head facing north on a full moon on my birthday....they all "failed" and left me seeking the next "solution"....so on my journey to recovery the "next" is Sarno....(to be continued)

In the meantime thanks for your responses it always doesn't hurt to receive encouragement and hope...

 

Booboo, that's a good monicker, "boo-boos" heal within a few hours, days or weeks. Chronic pain can WELL BE TMS/psychosomatic--the percentages are VERY high that they are. I had a boo-boo last week, I "accidentally"--(are there any real "accidents"--or just unconscious events?)--on my toe in the shower while shaving--it hurt like hell ! It bled, it hurt for a few moments. I put a bandage on it to not bleed on the carpets. It's been found that putting a Band-Aid on a boo-boo aids healing--in a study from the band-aid companies--I buy it, that's been my personal scientific finding also. If you break the biggest bone in the body, the femur, it heals stronger then new in weeks.

Some "scientific" studies are B.S., such as the one that was trotted out again recently against diet-soda. If you read the press-release it's full of innuendo and no real science. My real science of fifty years of studying diet-sodas shows they are safe--I drink a liter or two a day with no ill effects--except a compulsion to key-board, followed by hitting tennis balls. You believe the lies you want to believe--that's called politics.

So, to close this rant, I'd advise you to get out your "owner's manual" on chronic back-pain, "HEALING BACK PAIN", written by you know who. If you want a quickie summary, kindle Steven Ozanich's little "TOP TEN " TMS book :

http://steveozanich.com/index.php/books/dr-john-sarno-s-top-10-discoveries (Dr. John Sarno's Top 10 Healing Discoveries - Steve Ozanich)​

It's the most concise summary of TMS yet in book form, he tried to kindle it for free but he had to charge $2.99.

 

I'd suggest you also read this thread to combat your sub-c's attempts to derail your fledgling belief in TMS :

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/from-steveos-10-book.15564/ (From SteveO's "10 Book" ​