Why pain in the morning?

Hi all,
I just discovered TMS and I am 100% sure this is me. I have been suffering with lower back pain for 10 years now and I had already started to link "being busy and distracted" to having less pain. But now I have found this is a real thing I am very excited.

BUT.....Having been doing this a few days I'm having good results of less pain but what i can not understand is that when i wake up i still have so much pain in my back. Should i do yoga or something to try and relief pain or does this just add to the thoughts about the pain and make it worse?

Any tips on how to deal with the morning would be great

Thanks
Gemma

 

Hi Gemma,
Well, a little morning stiffness is common for most people. I say, start off with a nice, hot cup of tea or coffee first to sooth your mind. Then just do some mild morning exercises but don't focus too much on wanting to get into all kinds of weird yoga positions that are really uncomfortable. In my vision yoga should be more about meditation; accepting what you feel in your body and not resisting it (making you angry, anxious or sad), just float any mind and body sensations without reacting to them with mind chatter. The less you care about any pain or emotions for that matter, the more your brain will see that it doesn't need to give you so much pain in the morning. And be patient, give it time.

probably other people here have other tips for you, so pick what sounds best to you.

 

Hi Gemma,

If your pain is tied to muscle tension I recommend a good stretch before you even get out of bed. For me I am always extremely tight in the back and I do a couple gentle of knee pulls against my chest as well as a couple of yoga sciatica pulls for each leg. I do similar with my head on the pillow for my neck.

Morning pain could also be for a real mechanical reason like the position you sleep, room temperature or that you beat yourself up too much the day before. Dr.Sarno mentioned we go a little mad when sleeping, maybe this causes tension in our favorite TMS locations. Recently I have been waking up with less pain due to:

Giving up coffee in the evening, and sleeping so much better.

5 minutes Yoga before bedtime

Not playing Free Cell last thing at night and doing yoga instead

Sleeping specifically on my back. I’ve noticed curling left and right is only good for ten minutes of comfort. (9 months work in progress)

Try Yoga, If you are able to reduce pain with it do so. This gives you the ability for the “thinking” that needs to be done. If you are new to Yoga I would take a class and be careful.

I recognize my morning pain with acceptance, and a reminder to give thanks for yet another day since I am 69 and not a young pup anymore. The second thing I am thankful for is that cup of San Francisco French Roast, Ahh.

Good luck

 

Hi Andy

Thank you so much for this great advice. I love yoga so i will give this a go starting tonight and the idea of acceptance and stretches also seem doable.

I was thinking with this approach that once your brain 'gets it' you should be able to always tell your brain to send the pain away. I guess I am not quite there yet but I am only one week in

Gemma

 

Hi Gigalos,

Thanks for your words of wisdom, i agree with you about yoga. All too often i remember i used to go into it to push myself to the limits which i guess is not the best!

Gemma