Day 16 day 16

Hi. I have told a friend of mine that I thought that my plantar fascitiis pain was psychological. He didn't really believe it. So, the next time we went running he brought a big container of ice water for me to soak my foot in. I told him that I really didn't want to do that, because it wouldn't help. I told him I figured out what had caused the pain. He still doesn't believe me, but is better about not pushing me to do things to make it better.
Although the plantar's fascitiis has pretty much resolved, it is now replaced by ankle pain when I run. I found it interesting that Dr. Sarno mentioned that a lot of the pain is right sided which has been true for my foot. I am still running a few times a week even though the pain can get really bad at times. Occasionally during the run the pain will completely go away. I have been trying to keep in mind that it is all in my mind.

 

That the pain goes away during running when you're placing the most stress on your feet is an excellent indicator that it's from TMS instead of a physical abnormality. Obviously, if the underlying problem was structural, it would hurt more when you were increasing impact on your foot. That's what I noticed when I started back riding my road bike: getting on and off the Guru Ti my back and leg would hurt. However, when my mind became engaged with the process of riding while the sensations of moving scenery distracted me, the pain got less and less. It seems to me that the time I spend riding is what you might call, "Time out of mind" when I'm free to break down the conditioning in my neural pathways. But the healing process doesn't have to involve athletics. When I'm doing 1/35 scale plastic modeling, the same distraction from obsessive behavior patterns can take place. Baring something in the central nervous system like MS, it sounds like you're on the right track. As they say, "Keep on keeping on!"

 

Bruce, I called a roommate from years ago and we had a wonderful sharing of bringing each other
up to date. By coincidence, he ended by saying "Keep on keeping on!"