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Any Runners on this site?

Discussion in 'General Discussion Subforum' started by JoyceVT, Jun 13, 2012.

  1. JoyceVT

    JoyceVT Well known member

    Hello, I was just wondering if there are other runners or athletes on this site battling TMS. I know Enrique is a triathlete . I ran my first marathon last May and hope to get back on track to run another one in Novemember 2012. I've been battling running injuries, some real and some TMS the last 8 1/2 months. Would love to hear success stories about overcoming TMS triggered by the sports you love to do and how you get through it.
     
  2. Beach-Girl

    Beach-Girl Well known member

    I used to be! But not nearly at your level. I topped out at my "annual event" an 8K run they hold near here every year. I was SO SLOW that friends and family ditched me. In fact as I crossed the finish line huffing and puffing, my brother was standing there with a beer in his hand (he started the run with me) saying something about how they already had a table in a beer tent and were waiting for me. Was he kidding? I thought I was gonna die!!

    So I'm not the one to ask lol - but I know there are more runners here, they will help you better than I.

    BG
     
  3. JoyceVT

    JoyceVT Well known member

    I always say it doesn't matter how fast or slow you are as long as you're having fun. And I love races that have beer tents for the end! :)
     
  4. quert

    quert Guest

    There's always Marc Sopher:
    [​IMG]
    According to his web site, "An avid athlete, Dr. Sopher participates in many sports. As captain of the Williams College tennis team in 1983, he led his team to the inaugural NESCAC team championship while also capturing individual titles in singles and doubles. Dr. Sopher has run 16 marathons, including the Boston Marathon four times. He has run the grueling Mt. Washington Road Race three times, most recently in 2004. Also a cyclist, he has completed the Tristate Seacoast Century four times. He enjoys hiking with his family and once was spotted carrying an injured 90-pound dog on his back down Mt. Washington's Tuckerman's Ravine trail, relishing the extra workout."

    Here's cases from his website: (I just searched for "running")
    Probably the best one, though, is the first story in this section - simply amazing:
    http://www.tms-mindbodymedicine.com/tmsinfo.htm#foot
     
  5. JoyceVT

    JoyceVT Well known member

    Thanks Quert! I have met with Dr Sopher in 2001 and then again in 2010 for consultations. I also have his book. He was very helpful! Unfortunately he is no longer practicing. I do believe he does phone consultations as I had on last August when my shin splint wouldn't get better.
     
  6. Forest

    Forest Beloved Grand Eagle

  7. JoyceVT

    JoyceVT Well known member

    Thanks Forest! I have seen that article but never had time to read it completely. So glad I did and got to the part about him finally visiting Dr Sarno. Great story and very helpful!

    I was reading the responses and found a good one:
    " I first read this article about a year ago when my left knee pain migrated to my left hip and butt. I did everything the author did - scoured google, found a myriad of possible diagnoses, tried treatments for every single one, etc. Just to be sure, I saw a sports doctor who took xrays and declared me perfectly healthy. With that, I eventually got bored, stopped thinking about it, and went on with training pain free. Lo and behold, the piriformis pain came back about 5 months ago, this time in my RIGHT butt and hip. So I scoured google and runnersworld pages again, remembered this article, and thought I'd come back to it if necessary. Saw another doctor, an experienced and well-timed marathoner, ultra-runner, and triathlete (obviously, totally trustworthy) who did an exam, checked me out, and declared me a sufferer of minor piriformis syndrome but otherwise healthy. Recommended PT, which I did for one session, because my therapist said I was doing all the right exercises and he couldn't do anything more to help. Also went to see and endurance running trainer, who made a couple minor adjustments to my stride but after 3 sessions declared me of perfect form and ready to train for my first ultra. All the while, the pain was coming and going.

    So finally, I got Sarno's book and read a perfect and detailed description of myself - personality, characteristics, symptoms, everything - in the pages. Then, in researching TMS more, I stumbled on RunningPain.com, operated by an avid runner/personal trainer/life coach who suffered 20+ years of back & piriformis pain, did Sarno's work, and has been totally pain and ache free since, even as he still runs 80+ miles a week at 50 years old. So I called him.

    I've since been practicing what he calls The Master Practice - basically Sarno's research with practical applications and daily practices - and am, for the first time since becoming a runner five years ago, finding consistent relief from my pain.

    Why?

    Because what Sarno says is absolutely true (and it's documented not only by his research, but by our DNA as well): there is a connection between the mind and body, and just as pain in the body sends a signal to the mind to respond appropriately to damage, so the mind sends messages to the body to respond in certain ways to emotional/mental issues.

    NO. Don't misunderstand: The pain and symptoms are not "in your head." We are not making up the actual hurt in our physical bodies. The author here made that quite clear. The pain is very real, the symptoms are very real and incredibly debilitating. However, their source or cause is NOT physical. Just as the author said, and just as Sarno and hundreds of thousands of his and other TMS Doctors' patients will tell you, the pain is a physical manifestation of an emotional problem.

    So...when I feel the piriformis burn, I take the focus OFF the physical (because, as compelling evidence shows, it's not an actual physical problem, caused by the body or able to be truly and permanently treated by physical means) and focus on the psychological: What am I worried/angry/stressed/tense about?

    And I swear to you, it works. The mind has no more reason to distract you from the emotional cause by creating physical pain, because you're ready to acknowledge that it's not the body's problem, but the mind's.

    It sounds quacky...which is why it took me over a year to give it any real thought or trial. But it works.

    For more on the mind-body connection and its evidence in molecular biology and in how DNA functions (specifically how our mental/emotional state of being can literally change our DNA), check out the book 'Genome' by Matt Ridley."
     
  8. JoyceVT

    JoyceVT Well known member

  9. Forest

    Forest Beloved Grand Eagle

    Thanks for posting that article. One part that I especially like was when it said

    "Dr. Schechter says that some runners can experience pain by obsessing over "a problem area," a spot where they have a predisposition to tenderness or discomfort. "There could be a slight physical pain, but the stress and anxiety they feel over it amplifies it," he says. Runners coming back from an injury are especially prone to this, says sports psychologist John Heil, author of Psychology of Sports Injury. Pain from an injury can linger even after the body has healed because of "hypervigilance," says Heil."​

    It could be that the more we need to use a certain area, legs, knees, feet, the more likely we are to experience pain in those areas. This is mainly because when we experience pain in those areas we instantly become preoccupied with it. Thoughts run through our head such as: I'm not going to be able to run anymore or I can't do my favorite activity now. If it was pain in say our finger, we wouldn't become occupied with it, and the symptoms would fade away fairly quickly. Think about it, we can run with a hurt pinky.

    TMS symptoms will occur in areas that will distract us, and for runners, who are paying attention to their bodies, having symptoms in their legs or feet is very common in TMS. This also explains why I had knee pain when I didn't have a car and had to walk everywhere I went.
     
  10. JoyceVT

    JoyceVT Well known member

    Thanks Forest for your great insight! It's true: whenever I have had an ache or pain in my legs needed for running, it has often morphed into full blown TMS. And anytime I have other pains, I usually dismiss them and they go away. And I agree with Dr Schechter! I might have tweaked my knee in yoga or swimming or maybe running, and it actually got better. But the lingering twinges and sensations that have been plaguing me in the recent few months are definitely TMS.

    And as of now I do feel I'm making good progress. I still have some TMS in my left quadriceps tendon/knee but it seems to be fading slowly. There are better days and even moments than others but I'm still runnning and still planning to do my planned races this fall.
     
  11. Angeleyez

    Angeleyez Newcomer

    Hello Joyce, My name is Ros. I'm sorry but I'm not a runner with a success story but i am a martial artist who hasn't been able to train in 3months and I am falling apart. As an athlete is there any hope that i can get back to the only thing i want to do forever?
     

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