Day 1 "Patellar Tendonitis"....normal abnormality? I sure hope so!

Hey everyone. I'm a 21 year old Uni student. I have lived a fairly active lifestyle full of hiking, mountain biking, and running until about 3 months ago. After a month of trying out Jiu-Jitsu, a grappling martial art, I began to feel pain in both my knees. They both had tons of clicking and popping when I would bend them. It wasn't a sudden injury, it was more of a repetitive stress injury. I was constantly on my knees and wrestling people bigger than me. I was having so much fun for the first few weeks then the pain started and just kept getting worse.

I quit training and rested for 2 weeks straight with little improvement. I was really worried about the new noises my knees were making. I had never had knee pain and was so worried I messed them up forever. I still have my whole life ahead of me and exercising is one of my favorite things to do. Nothing de-stresses me like getting a good cardio workout. So I visited a doctor and she gave me 800mg ibuprofen and told me to come back if the pain doesn't go away. Well, the noises began to subside but I still had a lot of pain. I stopped doing any physical activities and would just rest all day.

I hated having to rest during my summer break. I just wanted to get out and play soccer or go hike, but instead I had injured during the only time I had to relax. My major is engineering and I had just had a very difficult and stressful quarter. I was so excited to just go out and play during the summer time, but I spent the next two months in my house and icing/heating/stretching and going to physical therapy but it just wouldn't get better.

It then became time to move back out to my university and start school. I got a job at a bike shop and began working there immediately. I would be in bad pain after my shifts and had to take extremely hot baths to relax my muscles that were supposedly pulling on my patella causing the pain. I would complain to my coworker about my knee pain and told him my story. He told me I probably have TMS and that my pain was real but caused by psychological problems not physical abnormalities.

At first I felt like he was wrong. My pain was real how could it not be a physical problem. I had an MRI done that had showed me an inflamed tendon over my kneecap. I felt the pain everyday. I was having trouble just walking around the house.

Finally after weeks of my coworker trying to convince me, he made me take a "mandatory break" and watch some videos on TMS. Specifically the 20/20 video and another that spoke about the evidence list. It was a pretty slow day at work so we spoke for probably an hour or two about what TMS actually is. He spoke to me about his experience with it and how powerful the book/program was for him.

I realized after I had spoken to him I felt a noticeable relief in my knee pain. That relief was the first thing to go on my now long evidence sheet of why my pain is mental and not caused by a physical problem. Its been about a 4 days since I spoke to my coworker about TMS and I already feel better. I've been reading the 12 daily reminders to my self 2-3 times a day. I have been reminding myself to breathe.

I have started to walk more, and been taking the stairs again. It used to be very painful to take the stairs, But now I don't feel much when doing them. I used to have to hold the hand rail and move slowly, but now I feel like I'm walking up the stairs normally.

I just ordered Dr. Sarnos book "The Mind Body Prescription". I can't wait to get the book and learn more about my condition. I have to admit I still feel pain sometimes but nothing as strong as I used to. I don't think I can say I'm 100% convinced I have TMS and that my body is actually fine. But so far the evidence I have collected seems pretty solid.

Anyways, Thanks to anybody who actually went through and read all of this. Any comments would be appreciated! I'm hopeful to go on my first hike in months very soon.

-Allen V

 

Welcome, Allen! It's sounds like a stroke of luck that you work with someone familiar with TMS. You'll definitely gain some insights from the book and from working the Structured Educational Program. Congratulations on taking a step in the right direction. I'm on day 31 and have found the program is very useful. Good luck on your journey. Jo

 

Hi Jo, Thanks for your reply and the good luck wishes! I do feel extremely lucky that my co-worker happened to have so much insight on the subject.