Si Joint & Low Back

Hello! Looking for some hopeful/positive stories regarding recovery from si joint/low back pain. This is a symptom I have on and off. I know that I have TMS pain but I have a hard time making this one fit into that box in my mind - as physical therapists and chiropractors say it can be from sitting too much or tight hip flexors, or incorrect posture, etc etc.

As I make efforts to resolve my symptoms as if they are TMS, I am looking for information to support that this pain can, in fact, also be a symptom of Mindbody Syndrome.

I haven't been formally diagnosed with TMS but I have been diagnosed with Central Sensitization - which is kind of the same thing.

Any helpful or encouraging or positive stories to help fight off doubt would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

(this is my first post, so if I am doing this wrong, let me know )

 

Hello and welcome, Lauren:

And really take a look at what you wrote! I highlighted the key words. And you might as well replace "etc. etc." with "blah blah blah".

This is what they say because they don't really know. Plenty of people sit "too much" and have no problems. Good posture is a no-brainer, we should all make that effort, but honestly, if they aren't able to tell you that your posture is in fact poor, then that's BS. Just filler words to make their "diagnosis" sound better. And come on - common sense tell us that regular all-over exercise is another no-brainer that will solve so-called "tight hip flexors", right?

I'm just trying to give you a kick-start here - it's time to start being critical of vague physical diagnoses, and start thinking psychologically.

And to go along with that:

Have you read any of Dr. Sarno's books? That is always the place to start. His first two books (the one most people read is Healing Back Pain) were focused on back pain (it was the times) but his second book, The MindBody Prescription progressed to accepting that TMS probably encompassed much more than just back pain - and The Divided Mind includes six chapters from other medical professionals (five MDs, actually, and one therapist).

We have plenty of hopeful and positive stories on our Success Stories subforum. Don't make the mistake of wasting time trying to find someone with your exact symptoms - that's just your primitive fearful brain trying to keep you in a fearful state of mind.

Good luck,

Jan

 

Hi Lauren,

I'm a physical therapist who recovered from low back pain a couple years ago, here is my story: http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/full-tms-recovery-from-back-pain-and-sciatica.17996/ (Full TMS recovery from back pain and sciatica)

Central sensitization=TMS, rest assured. There are several threads that discuss this, if you search.

Don't worry, there's no wrong way to do a post! Good luck on your journey!

 

Hi Lauren,

I had terrible lower back pain that got so bad I became bedridden. A chiropractor told me she thought it was one of my SI joints, but her adjustments didn't help. Another person told me it was my psoas muscle. An MRI showed a herniated disc. I later learned that my pain was being caused by my brain (TMS) and Dr. Sarno's teaching cured me. If you haven't already, I second Jan's recommendation to read Healing Back Pain by Dr. Sarno. He says this about sitting:

"...a common complaint of people with low back pain is that it is invariably brought on by sitting. This is such a benign activity one is mystified by the fact that it initiates pain. But conditioning occurs when two things go on simultaneously, so it is easy to imagine that at some point early in the course of the TMS experience, the person happens to be having pain while sitting. The brain makes the association between sitting and the presence of pain, and that person is now programmed to expect pain with sitting. In other words, the pain occurs because of its subconscious association with sitting, not because sitting is bad for the back." (Healing Back Pain, pgs. 25-26)

"Perhaps the most important (but most difficult) thing that patients must do is to resume all physical activity, including the most vigorous. It means overcoming the fear of bending, lifting, jogging, playing tennis or any other sport, and a hundred other common physical things. It means unlearning all the nonsense about the correct way you are supposed to bend, lift, sit, stand, lie in bed, which swimming strokes are good and bad, what kind of chair or mattress you must use, shoes or corset or brace you must wear, and many other bits of medical mythology." (Healing Back Pain, pg. 93)

Alan Gordon's program on this wiki may also be helpful--it's been invaluable to my mind-body health education: http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/ (Pain Recovery Program)

Hope that helps!

 

My pshyio told me the exact same thing about how it could be my si joint is off along with my pelvis etc. but my x ray few months later have showed that my joints and bones are fine. My doctor has even acknowledged that my pain is psychosomatic. She even said for a 23 year old you've been investigated a lot and there is nothing to be found. She's not wrong at least she knows about these illnesses. So I know that I gotta put in the work to fix it (keeping my mind in the present , exercising more , mediation etc. )

 

Thank you all so much! I'm trying to sort of build evidence against this being a structural problem and all these stories help so much. I had this develop into sciatica last week and like a wildddd burning pain in my hip. The confusing thing is that it is improved with physical therapy, though not eliminated- and like 90% eliminated by lying down. I'm so perplexed by how it could be impacted by working on structural things if it's all TMS. I'm scheduling an appointment with a doctor that understands TMS just to quiet these last few lingering doubts. Low back pain (and all the ways it can move and spread) is a new one for me so it threw me off my course with recovery a bit.

-L

 

Lauren, any therapy involving the "laying on of hands" has a powerful therapeutic placebo effect. It works, but it only works temporarily if you are not also actively engaged in a psychological co-healing process.

 

That's a good way to describe that process - "co-healing". And yes, it's always temporary.

 

I dont know if I would consider this a sucess but my lower back pain disappeared recently. However it moved to my mid upper back.(its not even noticable though) All I did was stop worrying and caring about it( easier said then done). when my doctor told me it was pshyosomatic I believed her and sure enough after about a week of not caring and just saying I'm not gonna let this get to me I'm just going enjoy my life and move on. I think knowing and accepting is the hardest part for me.

Also I read in ezers pelvic pain thread one guy was saying how you gotta just stop caring about it because that's the very thing that's causing it sure enough I haven't had any symptoms of cpps either. I'm also trying to manage my stress better. My doctor was surprised that I was aware that my brain was causing my muscles to tighten and that's what was causing the pain because I was so focused on it and the future. Now I try to take it day by day.

 

The accepting is also the hardest part for me. This specific sort of low back/hip pain has just really hovered in this location and stuck around a bit. I think my reaction of "why is this so bad" is not helping the problem resolve. But knowing other people have had it and navigated it well is helpful. I also think knowing that it's been like a month now and it's still persisted can sort of confirm to me that it's not structural because that would have healed or at least lessened by now.

 

I had it for about 7 months and it would also vary in pain which is another indicator is was psychological. The hardest part for me was letting go in a sense that I had to stop being afraid of the pain and just accept it not care or worry about it and it slowly has resolved but now I have tight shoulders atm and a sore knee but I know it's not a pshyical cause