TMS and Future Thoughts

Hello, I've been reading some posts on here about TMS and running/sports injuries. They've been helpful and I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience as what I've had the past few years, which is TMS seemingly waiting until you think you're over it--and happy about being over it--to pop back up.

For about five years now I've gone though what I once described to someone else as the entire "encyclopedia of running injuries." All the usual "overuse" suspects: shin splints, plantar fasciitis, IT band syndrome, piriformis syndrome, extensor tendonitis in my foot, labral tear on left hip, SI joint dysfunction in my right hip, calf strains, peroneal tendonitis, etc.

Some of these I overcame, such as an MRI-confirmed labral tear in my left hip, by unknowingly using TMS strategies before I'd even heard of TMS.

To his credit, after my MRI my ortho said he no longer did labral tear repair surgeries and they weren't very effective and that in fact most people had labral tears without knowing it. When I heard that (five months into the pain), I resolved to just start running again no matter if it hurt. The pain went away completely within two months and has never come back.

However, a pattern started to emerge: I would do well with my running routine for about 8-10 weeks, then just as I was gaining fitness, feeling good about my progress, and starting to think positively about future goals and events I wanted to do, a new injury would crop up. Then I'd do the smart conservative thing and take a few weeks off to let it heal and start back up again, only for a new injury to crop up in 8-10 weeks. This has gone on for the last 4-5 years and nothing I do has seemed to make a difference in terms of strength training, slowly increasing mileage, etc., all the things you are supposed to do to stay healthy. There's no reason I should be getting injured this frequently and always in a different spot in the same timeframe.

This past year I learned about TMS after a terrible bout of pelvic pain. It took me about six months to recover after seeing multiple doctors, specialists, and PT, etc. One doctor wanted to do a pretty gruesome sounding surgery. I said no, thankfully. Finally, similar to my labral tear, I got better by applying TMS principles without realizing that's what I was doing. Then I had a relapse last summer, which was frightening but which was also inexplicable from a structural viewpoint, and it was then I discovered Dr. Sarno and started reading about TMS and a lot of what I'd been through started to make a lot of sense.

I've since recovered again from that and gotten back to full activity, but, unfortunately, this cycle of running injuries has resumed. It's the same pattern. I've been able to get in pretty good shape this winter, but now my right hip hurts pretty badly, and it has hit exactly at the time when (1) I started feeling confidence and positivity in my progress and (2) if I take time off to heal I'll miss my goal event this spring. This is the usual pattern.

What I'm struggling with is that for some of these conditions it's fairly easy to rule out structural issues or the fear of the "worst case scenario" isn't all that scary, like if the pain is a tendonitis in my foot. The hip is more enigmatic in that there's a lot going on in and around that joint, it's a "new" pain so it's harder for me to chalk up to TMS, and there's always the "ultimate fear" of a stress fracture that is of course an actual structural problem.

Does TMS just "know" how to strike at the time to inflict maximum psychological damage and induce maximum fear? That's what it seems like to me. It always seems to hit me when I'm at a high point and allowing myself to look forward to a future without being restricted by pain rather than when I'm wallowing in a low point.

 

Do you love running? Is running fun to you or a tool to get fit physically like everybody says to do, another necessary task to be checked off? Have you tried other physical activity and also experience that type of repeated injury? Is it possible that your brain senses that you don't actually like running that well and then running injuries just happen in cycles so you could take a break from running?

 

That is the very definition of TMS. It wants to distract you from your feelings. Whatever scares you the most —or makes you feel the most defeated, like your life is over as you know it—that is what it will do.

Have you read anything by Dr. Sarno? He explains it.

 

I've been there. Look up my threads here by clicking my user name and viewing my threads. You'll find some comfort there.

in my opinion, I'm not so sure that TMS and/or your subconscious and/or your "brain" is quite so devious as to "strike when you aren't looking" - instead, I think what happens is that a) it just strikes, regardless of WHEN and/or b) it strikes something ELSE when it thinks it can fool you with the old location/spot.

But in the end, it's a moot point as to "why" - the fix is the same either way. Good luck!

 

To the earlier commenters point, I don't think the above is coincidence.

While you might enjoy doing race events, there is some part of your subconscious that DREADS these things. All the build up...the training...the worry/angst about fitness, the weather, potential illness, performance, etc ...the physical PAIN of the event itself, and the fear of that pain.....is VERY STRESSFUL and your subconscious could very well be trying to prevent the whole thing from happening by cropping up a TMS symptom every time you think about signing up for a race. I've had this happen to me.

 

When you're inviting yourself back to your regular life, TMS sees it as a terrible danger and spikes the symptoms to throw you back to bed. It might look like a catch-22 situation but it's not. Each time you do that you create new neuropathways. Eventually you'll have created enough for the brain to start choosing this new road, instead of the painfull one.

 

Really great responses in here! One thing you may also want to think about is how much pressure you are putting on yourself. Are you taking some breaks, a day off, or are you pushing yourself and beating yourself up to reach a certain goal or milestone? I love to exercise but when I begin to put too much pressure on myself to do it daily and treat myself unkindly, I get a little twinge here or there. That's when it's time to reflect and think, woah, I'm not being loving and kind to myself, let's dial all this pressure back.

 

That may certainly be part of it. There is pressure and stress associated with the events, for sure, even though I do enjoy doing them. And I also enjoy running and being in shape when it doesn’t hurt!

My suspicion is rather high that this latest hip issue is a structural issue, possibly a stress fracture. But I have been wrong on that before. Hoping I’m wrong again but I’m going to get it checked out to be sure.

I see Mr Hip that you’ve been convinced of a stress fracture before only to be given the all clear. But also that you’ve had a couple stress fractures as well.

Even though I have experienced first hand how well TMS can mimic very painful structural problems, every new manifestation is hard to get a handle on. As I sit here now I would say my current, quite painful hip symptoms are textbook stress fracture. Of course my recent bout with plantar fasciitis was textbook PF as well—until it went away after a few months by me ignoring it!