Hello, I've been reading some posts on here about TMS and running/sports injuries. They've been helpful and I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience as what I've had the past few years, which is TMS seemingly waiting until you think you're over it--and happy about being over it--to pop back up.
For about five years now I've gone though what I once described to someone else as the entire "encyclopedia of running injuries." All the usual "overuse" suspects: shin splints, plantar fasciitis, IT band syndrome, piriformis syndrome, extensor tendonitis in my foot, labral tear on left hip, SI joint dysfunction in my right hip, calf strains, peroneal tendonitis, etc.
Some of these I overcame, such as an MRI-confirmed labral tear in my left hip, by unknowingly using TMS strategies before I'd even heard of TMS.
To his credit, after my MRI my ortho said he no longer did labral tear repair surgeries and they weren't very effective and that in fact most people had labral tears without knowing it. When I heard that (five months into the pain), I resolved to just start running again no matter if it hurt. The pain went away completely within two months and has never come back.
However, a pattern started to emerge: I would do well with my running routine for about 8-10 weeks, then just as I was gaining fitness, feeling good about my progress, and starting to think positively about future goals and events I wanted to do, a new injury would crop up. Then I'd do the smart conservative thing and take a few weeks off to let it heal and start back up again, only for a new injury to crop up in 8-10 weeks. This has gone on for the last 4-5 years and nothing I do has seemed to make a difference in terms of strength training, slowly increasing mileage, etc., all the things you are supposed to do to stay healthy. There's no reason I should be getting injured this frequently and always in a different spot in the same timeframe.
This past year I learned about TMS after a terrible bout of pelvic pain. It took me about six months to recover after seeing multiple doctors, specialists, and PT, etc. One doctor wanted to do a pretty gruesome sounding surgery. I said no, thankfully. Finally, similar to my labral tear, I got better by applying TMS principles without realizing that's what I was doing. Then I had a relapse last summer, which was frightening but which was also inexplicable from a structural viewpoint, and it was then I discovered Dr. Sarno and started reading about TMS and a lot of what I'd been through started to make a lot of sense.
I've since recovered again from that and gotten back to full activity, but, unfortunately, this cycle of running injuries has resumed. It's the same pattern. I've been able to get in pretty good shape this winter, but now my right hip hurts pretty badly, and it has hit exactly at the time when (1) I started feeling confidence and positivity in my progress and (2) if I take time off to heal I'll miss my goal event this spring. This is the usual pattern.
What I'm struggling with is that for some of these conditions it's fairly easy to rule out structural issues or the fear of the "worst case scenario" isn't all that scary, like if the pain is a tendonitis in my foot. The hip is more enigmatic in that there's a lot going on in and around that joint, it's a "new" pain so it's harder for me to chalk up to TMS, and there's always the "ultimate fear" of a stress fracture that is of course an actual structural problem.
Does TMS just "know" how to strike at the time to inflict maximum psychological damage and induce maximum fear? That's what it seems like to me. It always seems to hit me when I'm at a high point and allowing myself to look forward to a future without being restricted by pain rather than when I'm wallowing in a low point.
For about five years now I've gone though what I once described to someone else as the entire "encyclopedia of running injuries." All the usual "overuse" suspects: shin splints, plantar fasciitis, IT band syndrome, piriformis syndrome, extensor tendonitis in my foot, labral tear on left hip, SI joint dysfunction in my right hip, calf strains, peroneal tendonitis, etc.
Some of these I overcame, such as an MRI-confirmed labral tear in my left hip, by unknowingly using TMS strategies before I'd even heard of TMS.
To his credit, after my MRI my ortho said he no longer did labral tear repair surgeries and they weren't very effective and that in fact most people had labral tears without knowing it. When I heard that (five months into the pain), I resolved to just start running again no matter if it hurt. The pain went away completely within two months and has never come back.
However, a pattern started to emerge: I would do well with my running routine for about 8-10 weeks, then just as I was gaining fitness, feeling good about my progress, and starting to think positively about future goals and events I wanted to do, a new injury would crop up. Then I'd do the smart conservative thing and take a few weeks off to let it heal and start back up again, only for a new injury to crop up in 8-10 weeks. This has gone on for the last 4-5 years and nothing I do has seemed to make a difference in terms of strength training, slowly increasing mileage, etc., all the things you are supposed to do to stay healthy. There's no reason I should be getting injured this frequently and always in a different spot in the same timeframe.
This past year I learned about TMS after a terrible bout of pelvic pain. It took me about six months to recover after seeing multiple doctors, specialists, and PT, etc. One doctor wanted to do a pretty gruesome sounding surgery. I said no, thankfully. Finally, similar to my labral tear, I got better by applying TMS principles without realizing that's what I was doing. Then I had a relapse last summer, which was frightening but which was also inexplicable from a structural viewpoint, and it was then I discovered Dr. Sarno and started reading about TMS and a lot of what I'd been through started to make a lot of sense.
I've since recovered again from that and gotten back to full activity, but, unfortunately, this cycle of running injuries has resumed. It's the same pattern. I've been able to get in pretty good shape this winter, but now my right hip hurts pretty badly, and it has hit exactly at the time when (1) I started feeling confidence and positivity in my progress and (2) if I take time off to heal I'll miss my goal event this spring. This is the usual pattern.
What I'm struggling with is that for some of these conditions it's fairly easy to rule out structural issues or the fear of the "worst case scenario" isn't all that scary, like if the pain is a tendonitis in my foot. The hip is more enigmatic in that there's a lot going on in and around that joint, it's a "new" pain so it's harder for me to chalk up to TMS, and there's always the "ultimate fear" of a stress fracture that is of course an actual structural problem.
Does TMS just "know" how to strike at the time to inflict maximum psychological damage and induce maximum fear? That's what it seems like to me. It always seems to hit me when I'm at a high point and allowing myself to look forward to a future without being restricted by pain rather than when I'm wallowing in a low point.
.