Quite a lot of 'emotions' come under the umbrella of fear. The encounter that you had with your boss that made you angry?, well that was fear. I am reliably informed that frustration, despair, anguish, irritation, annoyance, vexation all manifest as fear. So all of these emotions give me vaguely the same feelings, a shortness of breath, a feeling of tightness in my diaphragm area and a feeling of rising or swelling in my chest. I am now starting to notice this feeling and when it starts I tell my brain that everything is okay, that there is no danger and there is no reason for it to put my body in high alert. I take a couple of deep breaths and try to relax. If you have TMS and neural pathway pain your fear will be fuelling the pain. If you are 100% sure that there is nothing structurally wrong with you and that you are entirely capable of lifting something without causing yourself injury then it is your fear of the pain that is fuelling it. Your muscles, ligaments and tendons can only send danger signals to the brain, not pain or pain signals. It is up to the brain, upon receipt of this danger signal whether its worth creating pain, so to be clear, the brain creates the sensation of pain. Have a look at this.
(I know, I never can be bothered watching videos either, but knowledge is power in the struggle with your back pain) Your brain stuck in high alert. Its aware that something is happening with your back and it magnifies the moment sensation (i.e. the muscles tendons and ligaments moving the body part) until it thinks that something is wrong and it sends out the pain sensation. So a few things need to happen. The brain needs to get out of its fight or flight mode its in, you do this by becoming more mindful, meditate, take care of yourself, stop talking to yourself badly. Stop putting yourself under pressure to be better, quicker, more productive, nicer, more attractive, fitter. You have to believe that you're just fine how you are. Then you have to address the anxiety (for me) substitute your own emotion, but probably fear, aka frustration, despair, anguish, irritation, annoyance, vexation, because this is feeding the pain. Identify the feeling, and this is where I have previously got it wrong, when they tell you to uncover repressed emotions, or 'feel more. think less', just be at one with the feeling, observe it, don't judge, or question it. Just experience it. And then do the same thing with your pain. Don't wish it away, observe it with curiosity, don't judge it or become frustrated, just be. To quote Alan Gordon, 'You don't have a pain problem, you have a fear problem' or rather I have as I can't speak for you but this is my experience and I hope it clarifies a few things for you.
