Posture, Alignment, Exercise

Hi. Anyone here know why when I do more mobility and flexibility work that my body parts don’t hurt as much when I workout? It almost seems like alignment, mobility, and flexibility play a part in injury prevention and pain reduction. Thoughts?

 

Bumping this back up and adding another question. Any athletes on here? Confusing how athletes focus a lot on warmup, stretching, exercise progression, mobility, flexibility, nutrition, hydration and how that mixes with TMS. Thanks…

 

Hi @Chimichanga
I think the reason you are not getting an answer is because you are focusing on the physical.
Dr. Sarno says to think psychological, and we follow his teachings here. TMS really has nothing to do with warm ups or anything physical because it is simply a physical sensation of stress. TMS is not an injury. It is not caused by the physical.
Reading a book by Dr. Sarno or one of his contemporaries will help you understand what tms is, and how to heal from it.

 

Seems to me that recommendations for exercise totally depend upon the type of exercise you're engaging in, plus your age, experience, and condition. Of course there are going to be differences. If you're that confused, or if you don't trust your own instincts, maybe hire a personal trainer, or find a way to be coached.

Exercise for your physical and mental health. Follow reasonable advice and posted guidelines. Don't overthink it. Overthinking is a TMS symptom!

Edit: plus what Cactusflower just said as we were posting at the same time.

 

I don't know why. Maybe because you relax more, calm down the body as well as the mind. A workout is a little different. More intense, I would presume.
I do Pilates and Yoga almost daily and sometimes a few QiGong movements. These I consider stretching/flexibility for the body and for calming the mind. Using the stationary bike, lifting weights and fast walking (outside) are workouts for me. I do feel more pain during workouts, it's true. They are more intensive than Yoga or QiGong, for sure.

Take care.

 

Thanks. Although I find it hard to believe that someone who hasn’t worked out and decides to run a marathon or run sprint drills would not possibly sustain an injury. There has to be a line at some point that it is physical. The body cannot go without proper nutrition or hydration. Again, things that high performance athletes tend to focus highly on. I can see how most people on here who hike, walk, sit, stand wouldn’t have any issues as that is not hard on the body. I can tell you from my experience that running marathons or Olympic weight lifting 6 days a week for 10 hours a week can lead you susceptible to a real injury especially if you do not warmup, work on mobility etc.

 

Injuries are not tms.

True injuries happen, but they heal, generally within 3 months and are not chronic.
People with TMS can get injuries. If injury heals and does not become chronic then it’s healed.
example: I have a hang nail. It hurts & becomes infected. I limp in pain. I go to the Dr. and she fixes me up. Bandage and ointment for a week. It heals. I don’t give it another thought. That is just an injury or a hurt. If I kept limping and feeling pain for months - yet the foot has heeled, that is tms. TMS is chronic pain.
What seems like an injury, a sudden onset of pain can become chronic and tms. The injury heals but the anxiety, catastrophizing and worry signal there is something deeper within the mind going on.

 

I think mobility and flexibility work is important to anyone engaging in serious physical activity, whether that person struggles with TMS or not.
For example, when hiking or trail running in exposed conditions in the heat, hydration and stretching is extremely important. Anyone can get into trouble in those conditions (TMS-ers like me, or people who don't struggle with TMS) if they don't respect the conditions and take good care of themselves.

As for athletes, I think because of their level of training/goals/competitions, they bring an extra level to all of their workouts. Therefore, the rest of their lifestyle is often designed to support the athleticism. Nutrition, hydration, flexibility, etc.... are pieces that support their program.

I like what @Cactusflower said above that "Injuries are not TMS."
I've had injuries and they heal and I move on. TMS is something way deeper where the cause of my pain is based on emotions/fear/distraction.