Professional Runner with TMS

Hello everyone,

New to this forum yet not new to TMS. A little about my background, I'm a semi professional runner in my late 20s and have been familiar with the work of Dr. Sarno and other TMS physicians for about 3 years now. I have dealt with common sports "injuries" in the past such as tendonitis, and plantar fascitis using the practices discussed even with extreme cases of physical symptoms (swelling, bruising, etc.) with great success.

My current issue with chronic pain however, is more severe and I wish to hear some of your opinions and support for this is unlike anything I've ever experienced as an athlete. I've recently completed a stellar season of training and racing consistently putting in 90 to 110 miles per week and other than the standard fatigue and soreness, staying relatively pain free. After a race in early March, I felt pain in my pelvic area but attributed it to stress caused by the previous days effort. Shortly thereafter the pain subsided and o was back to logging even higher mileage with higher intensity than before. After a standard long run a couple weeks later, the pain returned only now it had spread from my pelvis to my inner thighs and finally to my glutes radiating down bother legs. Fully believing this was TMS, I took the advice of my coach to take a few days of complete rest. I in fact did feel the pain subside once again and decided to jog 3 short miles and low and behold the pain returned within the first stride like an old friend making what should have been an enjoyable easy stroll, quite miserable.

The fact that I can put my body through such stress for so long pain free and have severe discomfort during a period of rest makes me almost 100% certain this is TMS. I'd like to hear others' opinions and success stories of similar pain and glad to be a member of the forum so hopefully I can help others in the future. Thank you.

 

Can't dx you accurately over the internet whether it's TMS or not. It would take a TMS trained physician to do a physical/psychological work-up on you, perhaps taking several hours if he's thorough. But, since this is a TMS site the bias (and hope) here would be for it being TMS.

"Rest" would be taking a physical approach, not a TMS one. What is going on in your "emotional/psychological" realm??? See the RAHE-HOLMES list for proof that it may be TMS.

In the mean time, to keep from having endorphin withdrawals, get in a pool and hot-tub to give your bodymind a "rub".

If you want a marathon runner's perspective, get Monte Hueftle's TMS book, "GET RID OF THAT PAIN IN YOUR BUTT NOW"--it's an oldie but a goodie, I'm re-reading it now myself.

 

Thanks for the input Tennis Tom! I should have clarified that this "rest" period was scheduled by my coach and I not because of the physical symptoms that I was experiencing but rather a little "end of the season, preseason" downtime. Though he did mention that this would help heal any little injuries you may have, which could sway my judgement that it is in fact a structural problem rather than TMS.

I've communicated with Monte in the past but was unaware that he had published a book, I'll be sure to check it out!