Lower back pain - is it TMS when always worse after exercising?

Hi All, I am new here and only discovered TMS a couple of weeks ago. I have been struggling with lower back pain for over 3 years. I was told I have a very minor disk buldge at L4-L5 but otherwise main hypotheses were - weak core, one side of the body tighter than the other, one leg shorter than the other, shallow breathing etc. Needeless to say, I have tried physical therapy, swimming, massages, acupuntures and nothing helped. My pain is at its worst in the morning and after exercising, which meant I had to limit my two favourite activities - tennis and running. A couple of weeks ago I discovered Dr. Sarno's book and immediatelly felt better (I am the perfect TMS candidate). After that I read Steve's book. I started to run and play tennis again but the lower back pain has got much worse. I keep on thinking that it may be due to my lack of understanding/doubts about one particular question. I read everywhere that you know it is TMS when the pain from sport does not go away in the normal timframe. However, what if the particular move/sport just aggravates certain muscles/nerves every time? Many people have pain in TMS moving unpredictably, but I know it is always worse after sport. Thank you for your advice.

 

Hi Vero,

Your experience is normal in many ways. Having pain after exercise is a typical "conditioned response," or "anticipatory script" meaning that the mind expects to experience pain during/after certain events. My foot pain always was worse with movement, weight-bearing, until one night when I realized I was expecting this to happen, and wondered if it was all conditioning. The next day the usual pain response did not occur. This was not the end of all my symptoms, but it was a significant milestone.

Your best bet is to engage with the reading, thinking psychologically, etc. as recommended by Dr. Sarno, and be patient. We also have programs at the Wiki which are free. Or get Dr. Schubiner's workbook "Unlearn Your Pain."

The gist of my response is that there is no need to concern yourself about the symptoms, that their continuation is common, and to proceed with the most personally attuned TMS work over time. Also, backing off some exercise is not a problem as you allow the "knowledge" to go deeper. If you do this, understand why you're doing this "backing off" for awhile. Doing it to protect your nerves and muscles is not the right reason. Doing it to lesson mind-body symptoms temporarily won't hurt your progress. You're early into the process at this point.

Andy B

 

Thank you for your advice Andy!