| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 11/04/2004 : 10:09:02
I noticed recently that there were a number of posts recently regarding, what has been my chronic pain site, the hip region. A while back I put a post out there asking if anyone else shared my problem site and there was no response. Recently, interstingly, it seems there have been more hippy posters.
It was at least six months, maybe a year ago that I put out the call, and since then my hip condition has improved much. I have started running sporadicaly, very slowly. More importantly for me, my footwork has improved on the tennis court, the place where it really matters for me.
Sitting, walking, sleeping, etc., are no longer issues at all anymore, although at one time they excruciatingly were. Range of motion wise, it is a bit difficult to tie my right shoe.
There were some physical tips and tricks I used to motivate my leg muscles to re-engage. But the biggest change I made was in my thinking about my right hip. It had been diagnosed by numerous doctors as "significant arthritis."
I found the small section in MBP that the Good Doctor wrote about hips and accepted that it applied to mine. Although I have read Dr. Sarno's books numerous times, word for word, the TMS gremlin prevented me from seeing these several paragraphs about hips.
The change in my thinking is: When I take a step or a stide I no longer fear that I am damaging my hip joint. I used to think that I was wearing away the remaining cartelege in the joint. I felt I had to rest it to prevent the infamous bone-on-bone condition. My thought now is: It is TMS. It is not in the hip joint. The pain is due to oxygen deprivation to my tight-ass region. It is harmless but painful. Think about what is happening emotionaly to trigger this.
I used to take glucoseamine-chrondroitin, (along with a myriad of other products that I now consider snake-oils). I got some placebo benefit from it. Then I was told the brand I was taking had little if any active ingredient in it. Then I heard that no broad-based scientific studies had been done on G-C, and that it had been only shown to be 25% effective. I have seen a similar pattern with the other supplements I had tried. Lots of media buzz, a quicky-book, placebo effect and then the product fades from memory, replaced by the next silver-bullet on Walgreen's or Costco's shelves.
I had resisted posting about my experience with glucose-chrondroitin, out of a "goodist" fear of hindering anyone else's possible results from it, but my own personal success using TMS thinking alone has given me the confidence to do so.
I hope this helps any other "hippy's" out there, and that I don't lose my internet connection when I hit the post button. If I do I'll try to post it again. If not, posting here helps me as much as you.
tt
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| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Michele |
Posted - 11/05/2004 : 12:29:32
Great job Tom!! Let's keep each other posted on our run progress. I'll be thinking of you while I track those miles!
Now my only pain problem is when I get up after sitting for any length of time. I can barely move! I have to force myself to move, and I'm sure it is all conditioning. I expect to be stiff and sore after sitting. Of course, my job is sitting in front of a desk all day!  |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 11/05/2004 : 09:32:59
Michele,  BRAVO! That's the attitude! Just do it!
To answer your question of what I am afraid of-or,had been afraid of is, wearing away the cartelege in my hip with each stride I took.
You can relate to this. I saw my elderly, old school, beloved, family doctor, (he has had back surgery himself). His conclusion on examining my hip was that it was a soft-tissue problem, meaning muscular. But, since I was "athletic" he sent me to the "specialist", the ortho-pedic surgeon. X-rays were done. An annonymous, (to me), radiologist looked at them and submitted a report with all the anomalies (gray hair of the joints) and "significant arthritis" was the call. Fortunately the surgeon did not try a hard sell me a hip-replacement and just said keep doing what I'm doing and come back when I couldn't sleep due to the pain and couldn't bend over to tie my shoes anymore.
That's the Reader's Digest, abridged version-there were many more dox who gave the same, lock-step, (that's an ironic way to put it), party-line on the hopeless state of my right hip joint.
If I had not stumbled upon the Good Doctor's books, I can't say where I would be physicaly, but psychlogicaly, I would certainly be different.
I still have some discomfort. But I am confident I will be 100% in my hip some day soon. The TMS gremlin may try to give me a new pain location but I am much better equipped to play the game with him
now.
I am actually enjoying the process of observing the pain slowly diminish and my taking control of the process-I'm playing the pain, rather than the pain playing me.
There is also some fear that if I totally get rid of the hip pain, where will it crop up next? My psyche, apparently, would rather stick with the pain it knows, than a new one it doesn't. My mind is not ready to be pain-free and lose the crutch of physical pain to avoid psycholgical pain.
It took many cursory exams, by "specialists", of my x-rays and MRI's, to instill the FEAR of doing further damage with each step. I stopped running, and forgot what it felt like-I became de-conditioned. I must now re-conditon my hip to not lock-up. It takes about ten minutes of hard thinking to get there, but then the TMS gives up and the muscles around my hip melt like butter. It's gonna' take a little while to forget ten years of negative imaging but with each run it gets a little better.
 tt
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| Michele |
Posted - 11/05/2004 : 07:48:31
Another fellow "hippy" here. 
I know you're a runner TT, and I see you are back running sporadically. What are you afraid of? That you'll get injured? Tired? That's exactly the question I asked myself this morning when I started running. I'd only been going 2, 2.3, 2.5 miles and never more. This morning I got to the almost 2 mile mark and I asked myself - out loud, since no one is out at 4:30 a.m. - what are you afraid of?? If you go more than 2 miles, what's going to happen? NOTHING!! Yes, you'll be tired, yes you might get sore later on, but you are NOT GOING TO GET HURT! THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU!! I finished my run and had logged 3.5 miles. Pretty good for a chicken-sheet.
My doctor and his specialist also told me my pain was arthritis. Well, that didn't make any sense to me because I have more arthritis on the right side and IT DOESN'T HURT. And I had arthritis BEFORE the pain started and all the MRIs and x-rays show it hasn't even progressed since I had all that stuff done 2 years ago. So when I have some pain now, I am stomping my feet, clenching my fists, and pretty much commanding my body/hips to KNOCK IT OFF!! We will have NO PAIN today!!
I've even had additional stress lately, a friend's betrayal of trust, and my pastor lying. Very hurtful things. But I wrote them all down, I faced the feelings I was having, and nothing happened. I'm OK.
So, TT, we're on our way to pain-free hips!! Good luck with your running!! |
| Mobius |
Posted - 11/04/2004 : 15:27:31
Hello TT,
I posted a few time in the past on the old forum using a different User Name about pain in my left butt and hip areas. This pain resides in these two areas almost exclusively and only when I am walking or standing. Once in awhile when I get up from a sitting position quickly I will feel pain in my right hip area. It doesn't last too long usually and then transfers back into the left hip area again. When there is pain in the right hip there is no pain in the left hip and visa versa. That is what led me to belive that it is TMS.
I have been involved in the study of Zen for quite sometime and have learned that the best way for me to deal with this pain is to completely accept it and to get on with my life. I am confident with the TMS concept and know that this is not a structural problem, therefore I feel that I can safely ignore this pain. Fighting it or resisting it just seems to draw more pain to me and is exactly what the TMS Gremlin is determined to get me to do.
Just a couple of thoughts from a fellow "Hippie". Take care. Mobius |
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