I'm a weightlifter. I've had RSI, at times severely disabling, since I was a young adult. For four years I had zero symptoms and my training was going incredible. Then out of nowhere, back pain, for the first time. No injury whatsoever. I was convinced I had some kind of disc issue, ligament tear, or something else fairly serious. In conjunction with other things, this ruined my training. It's been 9-10 months now. Rehab/acupuncture/McGill/McKenzie have not helped.
I've read Sarno. I do believe in TMS and while I can't say for sure that I have it, I know millions of other people do. The pain is extremely weird, to say the least. Although I didn't get a breakthrough from the book. a few weeks ago, while taking an epsom salt bath, I realized that every time I do this, I recreate the pain trigger, since I'm laying on the exact areas of my back that always hurt. At that moment, I had a revelation: my epsom salt baths, done daily for athletic recovery for well over a year, caused my pain and then maintained it. I immediately stopped. Two days later the pain started dissapating. After a week, it was 100% gone. I told myself at the time, this probably isn't TMS, since I identified a physical trigger. But in the back of my mind I wondered if the physical trigger was completely irrelevant except for the fact that it was a placeholder for what I believed caused the distractons/pain. So maybe it was placebo effect. And if it was, then I don't have any back problem at all.
A few days later, I was convinced it was gone. I tried light weights, and the next day, the pain came back, and now it hangs around again for the last 8-9 days. I know (and hope) this is a learned response, and that I'm really fine. I just wish I knew how to end this forever, and that it is in fact TMS.
I've read Sarno. I do believe in TMS and while I can't say for sure that I have it, I know millions of other people do. The pain is extremely weird, to say the least. Although I didn't get a breakthrough from the book. a few weeks ago, while taking an epsom salt bath, I realized that every time I do this, I recreate the pain trigger, since I'm laying on the exact areas of my back that always hurt. At that moment, I had a revelation: my epsom salt baths, done daily for athletic recovery for well over a year, caused my pain and then maintained it. I immediately stopped. Two days later the pain started dissapating. After a week, it was 100% gone. I told myself at the time, this probably isn't TMS, since I identified a physical trigger. But in the back of my mind I wondered if the physical trigger was completely irrelevant except for the fact that it was a placeholder for what I believed caused the distractons/pain. So maybe it was placebo effect. And if it was, then I don't have any back problem at all.
A few days later, I was convinced it was gone. I tried light weights, and the next day, the pain came back, and now it hangs around again for the last 8-9 days. I know (and hope) this is a learned response, and that I'm really fine. I just wish I knew how to end this forever, and that it is in fact TMS.
