Cured for 6+ months and now a new "injury"?! Help!

[Dexy]

Hello to all--

I am really struggling with IT band pain while running, after having cured myself of my other TMS conditions (previously Sacroiliac, Hip, Buttock pain). I am certain this is TMS, as I haven't done anything differently physically. I took a week or so off of running and decided to go again today. I experienced so much pain and anger and all of the fear emotions. I tried getting angry at my pain, tried running harder and totally ignoring it, yet it plagued me the entire way and ruined my run and my day

I'm just so upset and scared because I finally cured myself of all of my other physical issues using the TMS approach for about six months plus now, and then this has cropped up and really thrown me for a loop. My life has been transforming in so many positive ways and I am terrified this is going to become my focus and spiral me into not feeling so happy and free again. I felt so trapped and bogged down by my TMS obsession before (it's hard not to obsess when you are feeling something physical 24/7...as you all know).

Just looking for some words of encouragement and your thoughts on whether this IT band pain is indeed TMS.

Thank you

 

[dharn999]

Sorry to hear your situation.. I'm going through a similar thing so know you are not alone. I too had been doing great for about two years then my TMS got me back into the "injury" loop..

Just keep telling yourself that it's TMS and go back and read and inform yourself. It will give you comfort and help you get back to where you want to be.

I can say the biggest thing I keep reminding myself is that "You know this works because you've had success from this before". Sounds like you're right where I am, so just hold on and know that it will get better. I'm not where I was but I am doing better.

Someone told me on here that you need to always remember that you heal when you live, you don't heal then live, so don't wait for things to get 100% before you get back to things you love and enjoy

I hope this helps

 

[Dexy]

Sorry to hear your situation.. I'm going through a similar thing so know you are not alone. I too had been doing great for about two years then my TMS got me back into the "injury" loop..

Just keep telling yourself that it's TMS and go back and read and inform yourself. It will give you comfort and help you get back to where you want to be.

I can say the biggest thing I keep reminding myself is that "You know this works because you've had success from this before". Sounds like you're right where I am, so just hold on and know that it will get better. I'm not where I was but I am doing better.

Someone told me on here that you need to always remember that you heal when you live, you don't heal then live, so don't wait for things to get 100% before you get back to things you love and enjoy

I hope this helps

This does help, thank you. I really needed the reminder that you heal when you live, you don't heal and then live. Thank you!

 

[RichieRich]

@Dexy.....when I was just getting back into running, 2007, I had a brutal case of IT band syndrome. It was so bad in my Left leg that overcompensating on the Right leg ended up causing even more damage to the good leg. It started when I felt something pop while running around a group of ducks on an incline. It took me about 6 months to recover. I slapped two double chopat straps on and got at it jogging and working on form. I will say though, the biggest helper was weight lifting and swimming during that time. The leg extension machine is your best friend. Start doing slow single leg extensions, holding at the top. Also add in some 3 minute wall chairs.

You got this.

 

[Dexy]

@Dexy.....when I was just getting back into running, 2007, I had a brutal case of IT band syndrome. It was so bad in my Left leg that overcompensating on the Right leg ended up causing even more damage to the good leg. It started when I felt something pop while running around a group of ducks on an incline. It took me about 6 months to recover. I slapped two double chopat straps on and got at it jogging and working on form. I will say though, the biggest helper was weight lifting and swimming during that time. The leg extension machine is your best friend. Start doing slow single leg extensions, holding at the top. Also add in some 3 minute wall chairs.

You got this.

Thanks, Richie. I'm still struggling as to whether this is in fact another manifestation of TMS or not. There are times when I am certain it is TMS and have been pain-free, even jogging. Then the pain will switch to my quadricep or knee, and it won't be the IT band at all. How to know if it's TMS or not?! Are you certain that your IT band pain wasn't TMS? What are chopat straps? Are you saying you didn't stop running and just worked on your form?

 

[RichieRich]

@Dexy.....I guess the crucial bit of information I left out was that this occurred pre-anxiety disorder. I used to shrug it off and just switch to a different exercise to rehab. I used double chopats on both knees. They wrap above and below the knee to unload the leg muscles from the patella. This was in 2008. I was ignorant to stuff like anxiety and psychosomatic pain. After my meltdown in March 2012, I've endured a host of psychosomatic ailments.

Just take the jogging lightly, and focus more on form and the environment. Try switching to more of a shuffle or speed walk. ITBS hurts like a SOB. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to roll it out every second of every day. Like I said, I switched to more weight lifting and swimming to rid myself of ITBS. I spent literally about 6 months rehabbing my good leg. I think my bad leg pain was gone in like a month. I had focused so much on my good leg that I was in flipping pain constantly. It just kinda went away one day. I haven't had the issue for years.

When I look back, honestly, I don't really know when exactly the pain abated. Even though my injury predates Ozanich's TGPD, there's a line in the book that really hits home on how I was probably able to overcome the problem. It was something to the effect of: don't exercise or stretch because you need to in order to rehab, but because that's what you want to do. I got pretty consumed with weight lifting and swimming that I only ran once or twice a week. Eventually I was just a weightlifting/swimming freak who had no ITBS.