No back pain...now patellar knee pain is back

I am very happy to report that at this very moment my back pain and sciatic nerve pain is completely gone. I am still seeing my cranial therapist, but I am diligently doing the structured program work and reading The Divided Mind at the same time. Now that I'm increasing my activity level because of decreased back pain my knee pain from 12 years ago is returning. I was diagnosed with patellar femoral pain (I think it's a catch all) due to misaligned knee caps (knock knees). I have not backed down from my increased level of exercise, but I'm afraid to push further. My knee pain stems from an old injury that resulted in me stopping running. I decided that if I'm going to believe that my back is strong and healthy that I want to try to run again. I'm truly afraid to push this for fear of injuring myself again. I saw the 2 posts on the success stories for knee pain, but I'm wondering if others out there have experience with knee pain and pushing through it. I know that this particular knee diagnosis is sort of bogus, but my injury resulted in swollen knees, being laid up for a few weeks, and years of physical therapy. I really don't want to go back there again. I know that the pain can move from one area to another, but how do you know when to actually back off and when to just plow ahead?

 

Awesome. Great feeling isn't it?

And herein lies a great issue for me too. I used to run but stopped when I developed debilitating back pain. I would love to run again, but fear has me "stuck". I can totally relate to this barrier.

My pain went right into my neck and shoulder - about 2 months ago, and has not let up. Signal: You aren't there yet. So keep on doing what you're doing. Keep reminding your knees that the pain is "bogus" and keep working through your issues. I've read a lot of runners start with walk/running. But I suggest you wait until your knees want to do this too. Shouldn't be too long as you seem to be doing really well.

Best of luck

BG

 

If it helps at all, I have been through something very similar. A long story cut short is that I had unexplained knee problems (i.e. MRI didn't show anything) which was assumed to be patella tendonitis. Lots of frustrating and useless treatment later I stopped worrying about my knee as low back pain took over my life for a few years. This couldn't be tracked down by the medics, so shoulder pain took over. I then finally met a physiotherapist who introduced me to TMS thinking. The back/shoulder pain went away in a couple of weeks and then the knee pain returned. My physio (who makes his main living treating very highly paid professional athletes so knows what he is doing) helped me to understand that all the usual advice about pore posture, misaligned legs, the need for orthotics was nonsense and that fundamentally I was in good shape. I basically told the knee pain to get lost, and immediately returned to exercise again after having stopped for five or six years due to my various 'ailments'. I have managed numerous half marathons and even a marathon since. Now and then I get a flare up, it is surprising how easily I can forget the anti-TMS actions so I read the literature again, and get back to normal pretty quickly.

So in summary, you are experiencing something very common, and can beat it! Perhaps like me, the original lower limb 'diagnosis' was the traditional medics clutching at whatever was the current orthodoxy, and in fact you were always fundamentally OK. But understandably you are nervous about throwing this idea away, as you have lived with it for many years. But it is interesting that there are many parallels with my story...

 

I'm new here and thought I'd comment on this forum as I'm dealing with a similar problem. I've had various TMS symptoms for the past ten years - back spasms, TMJ, bouts of insomnia and skin problems. I've read Sarno's books and others and fortunately I've been able to get rid of my symptoms rather quickly, mostly by making an effort to change my negative thoughts. I saw a behaviorial therapist about 3 years ago which helped and I try to get back to that thinking when a new symptom crops up. I was dx with knee arthritis about 2 years ago but it has not been too troubling. About a month ago my knee started to buckle on me. This was both painful and scary as I was afraid I would fall . I saw the orthopod. He seemed a little perplexed at the nature of my symptoms as it occurs mainly after
sitting or lying down. The xray showed moderate arthritis with a floating bone chip. He recommended a knee scope to "clean out the chip". I am now sure this is TMS as I have had similar symptoms of this knee buckling on me, but it was sporadic and would be gone in a day. I am finding myself obsessing about this problem. Even before I get up from a seated position my thoughts are "is this going to happen again". I am well aware this these obsessive thoughts
are feeding the symptom, but I can't seem to stop the thoughts and recondition myself. All thoughts are welcome.

 

Thank you for posting the Breaking the Pain Cycle article, Forest. I think that was the kind of lesson I needed to hear. I'm still struggling to get past the physiology on this one, but the article helps.