How do more people not have TMS?

I know this sounds like a stupid question, but everyone has lots of stress and stuff going on in their lives. How is TMS not more popular? I understand that lots of people may have very mild forms and therefore wouldn’t even know or care that much, but is there something genetic that predisposes some people (us) to manifest TMS more than others? Think of all the professional athletes and celebrities in the world. They are typically very driven, competitive people and I would imagine they deal with extreme stress often. Yet, while they obviously suffer injuries and have pains occasionally, I have never heard of any athlete who had to retire or miss a season or even a single game due to the weird, more uncommon symptoms of TMS (like random wrist or foot pain or unprompted knee pain, etc.). The athlete scenario is just an example, I guess I’m just wondering why most people can deal with immense stress and repressed emotions throughout their lives and never show any physical symptoms, and others such as us can not.

 

Dario, you should watch this .

Skip to about 10 minutes into it and it explains exactly what is going on. People deal with the immense stress by doing what this Harvard MD is doing, instead of recognizing that Sarno is not a voodoo doctor. 80% of people refuse to consider that their pain has emotional underpinnings.

 

Thanks for the reply. I can’t watch the video right now, but I will soon! Just to clarify, I am 1 million % confident that I have TMS, and do not doubt the diagnosis or treatment at all. Thankfully I’ve gotten better over time, with some minor bumps in the road. I was just curious as to why more of the population doesn’t have TMS as well given that there are tons of people who have the personality type and who are under tremendous stress (maybe the video answers this).

 

HUh? I disagree 1000%. I see it all the time in baseball. My best testimony is the back of any old school baseball card. I was looking at Ernie Banks' card one day and noticed he only missed part of one season in 20 years with a broken ARM.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bankser01.shtml (Ernie Banks Stats | Baseball-Reference.com)

The MRI has meant the destruction of the modern baseball player... 'soft tissue pathology' 'discs' 'RSI' and mystery pains have sidelined thousands of players in modern baseball.. the guy with stats like EB , as far as games played used to be relatively common (not all were as skilled as him)

Being a fan, now I watch a lot of games, players, follow a lot of teams. I cannot tell you how many guys pull up lame with a hamstring injury in a tight game, Or pitchers who need Tommy John Surgery?? What a crock of shit... pitch counts and guys being pulled in the 5th-7th inning was unheard OF until modern times, so either one of two conclusions can be drawn...strength training and perfect diet actually causes guys to fail OR evolution is working backwards and all the modern technological advantages can't make up for the evolutionary fall off....

Or, the MRI, extra tension because of the huge sums of money at stake and non stop media pressure is causing TMS. That is what I believe. I know of way too many stories from the last 20 years and won't bore you, but guys used to throw extra inning games without a relief pitcher.... the relief pitcher himself which is now a must have 6 or 7 on any roster used to be one washed up old starter to take over if a guy was just not having a good day... now mandatory. Guy wins the Cy young might not even complete 3 games in a season... all to protect the mysteriously weakening pitchers

Will TMS ever be accepted by Pro athletes? Probably not, for reasons Sarno canvassed pretty well. I have talked to young guys on the ball field during workouts and talked them OUT of an arm injury and they went back in and played? I am no miracle worker.... I just usually am super candid about my own observations of the pressures on the field and once they can discuss them openly, their 'oh my god it's killing me' arm pain vanishes. I assume other sports have similar pressures, I just know a littler about baseball... I can't tell you how many guys pull up lame after running out their third ground ball out of the game...never seems to happen when they're legging out a double into the gap....Hmmmm???

but then, I am Biased

 

Fair points. However:

Assuming elbow injuries that require Tommy John surgery are mainly due to TMS, why wouldn’t most sufferers continue to get elbow pain and require Tommy John surgery again and again and again. Why would Tommy John actually cure them long term if they are not applying any of TMS treatment techniques? Not many pitchers have gotten the surgery multiple times.

 

I know...they just fail and retire OR have a series of other injuries. Just like a lot of back pain sufferers have 'successful' back surgery...and 9 months later their knee goes .....and then they have RSI. The IR on most major league clubs is full of career TMS sufferers but NO athlete would ever admit that..Sarno said a few athletes had been sent to him, but none ever followed up.

The Tommy John is a placebo, so their mind which believes in it finds a new spot.

When I coach I have always used Leo Mazzone's 'Pitch like a pro' theory.... His theory is you have to throw every single day... No days off.... Hmmm... Maddox, Glavine, Smoltzy and Avery were his guinea pigs. The only one who took an off day was Avery... guess who had the shortest career?? Leo Mazzone unwittingly supported Sarno's theories. He also wasn't a fan of icing, and waaay back when he wrote that he already was complaining of the pampering of modern pitchers being at the root of a lot of their problems... It's not that they throw too much... they don't throw ENOUGH!

I have never had a pitcher on any team I have ever coached have any problems...and I have always insisted they throw every day..My son learned a curveball when he was 9 and he is still throwing it pain free.(aged 27) When Team Mom's started sticking their nose in the dugout a whole landslide of ouchie's started. 6th place trophies proliferated. "We're all winners" (LOL)The emasculation of our society has happened slowly and silently. I actually HAD to look at it on the front lines for my pain to go away... When you recover from TMS the side benefit is you no longer go along with collective delusions... you can't afford it anymore.

 

in my humble opinion: is not just about the stress ...but rather about our irrational, automathic, unconcious REACTION to that stress.
If stress is compensate with success, money, recognition, pleasure, prices, social exposure, vanity, awards,..... that's OK, it worth the effort.
But..... usually that's not the real world!
We are exposed to be frustrated, offended, betrayed, cheated, humiliated,..... and that creates huge amounts of rage in our «residual/inner child». Unbearable rage that our brain will try to bury in our unconscious activating its best «protective/ distractive» mechanism: pain.

 

Everyone has TMS/mind-body symptoms - it’s part of being a living being. As I always say, something as simple as blushing when you’re embarrassed, having a headache or stomachache after a stressful event, etc. is a product of the mind-body connection. Scientific studies have shown mind-body effects such as greater susceptibility to the common cold, poor wound healing, heightened allergenic responses, and more - this means that people who don’t even realize they’re affected by this phenomenon are definitely experiencing it. This should comfort you and help us all realize that we are far from alone.

Some people like us just develop more severe symptoms, but the reason why significantly varies by the individual and their unique situation. We may be more sensitive in general, we could be predisposed to overactive autonomic nervous systems (like me with Ehlers-Danlos, but that does NOT mean the symptoms are permanent or cannot be overcome), etc. We can all beat this.

 

probably it's not about stress .... it's about unconscious and repressed rage / anger / fury

 

For me, any emotion that triggers the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight mode) will do it!