| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| positivevibes |
Posted - 01/21/2008 : 13:39:48
As I've mentioned, I'm brand new to the Sarno methods and am just starting out with them.
I have a question about future activity which has hurt me in the past. Specifically, lifting heavy stuff.
My severe back problems really began 12 years ago, when I was pregnant with my second child. In my 8th month of pregnancy, I fell hard on my butt on a hard tile floor. The pain was unbearable. To make a long story short, I didn't like taking gobs of Ibuprofen when I was pregnant, so I saw an acupuncturist who stopped the pain after 4 treatments, thank God. My osteopath (whom I started seeing a few months ago) says that this incident caused my spine to twist and it also messed up my pelvis a little bit. Which possibly explains why my back pain was so much more severe when I hurt myself in the subsequent years.
A couple of years later, I was helping to lift and move a heavy table and I could immediately feel that it had hurt my back. It felt like something had been compressed. It took a few weeks for the pain to go away. I had never felt a pain like that previously when trying to lift something.
The next time my back got hurt was under similar circumstances...I was trying to move or lift something heavy and immediately something felt compressed and then the pain began a day or two later. That time, physical therapy helped resolve it within a few weeks.
A few years after that, again I was trying to move something and hurt it in exactly the same way. I have come to understand that lifting and twisting at the same time hurts me for some reason. My osteopath says I have some arthritis in my back (he says it's normal for my age -- 47) and I know that I have a couple of mildly buldging discs in my lower back. He said that some types of activity, such as heavy lifting, will make the facet joints irritated and cause a flare-up of symptoms. For example, if I were to go on a Zodiac boat ride where I was bounced up and down hard a lot, I would probably have back pain almost immediately and for several days afterward.
So here is my question to all of you who have been doing Sarno's methods. What about the future? Should I avoid lifting VERY heavy objects (such as tables or sofas), knowing that I have had problems doing such activity for years? I mean, I DO have some structural abnormalities in my back, and they PROBABLY WILL cause a flareup of pain if I purposely do things to irritate them. I'm not talking about normal everyday activities....I'm talking about heavy lifting or extreme activities.
I would like your opinions on this subject. I am not scared to lift lighter things as long as I lift them carefully (without twisting while I'm lifting). But if something gets above 30lbs for example, I will not touch it for fear of causing a flareup of pain.
I know that Sarno says to forget everything you ever taught yourself about your pain and postures, etc. But I find it impossible to give up the "fact" that some "heavy" things WILL cause my back to hurt if I'm not careful. After all, I'm not 15 years old anymore with an absolutely perfect spine. |
| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| electraglideman |
Posted - 01/21/2008 : 18:56:23
quote:
Originally posted by positivevibes
Well actually the first time it happened to me (when I helped move the heavy table) I know that I wasn't thinking about hurting my back at all. I was just thinking about helping move the table!
You may have been thinking (consciously) of nothing but moving the table but it's your unconscious that's caused the pain. |
| qso |
Posted - 01/21/2008 : 16:35:44
The thing about structural abnormalities is that there is usually very little sceintific basis to correlate them with the pain and other symptoms. It is worse than guesswork. In the days I was seeing a chiropractor he showed me an X-ray showing that my head was completely offset from the center of my body and was the reason for the shoulder pain and migranes. He also showed by the unusual curvature in the lumbar region of the spine and said that was the reason for my back pain. Oh my God I thought that looks pretty bad-no wonder. But guess what? Now that all the debilitating symptoms are completely gone, no headaches even - my head is *still* not on straight and my lunbar vertebrae are *still* out of whack. Lesson: structural abnormalities bear little correlation to the completely disproportionate intensity, location, and nature of TMS symptoms. I stopped seeing the chiropractor a long time ago. He was making a 100 bucks from the insurance company 3 times a week. He still sends me a postcard every month saying he misses me. I wonder why?
As for lifting, remember that the human body is very good at fixing real physical injuries. |
| positivevibes |
Posted - 01/21/2008 : 16:16:38
Well actually the first time it happened to me (when I helped move the heavy table) I know that I wasn't thinking about hurting my back at all. I was just thinking about helping move the table! Afterwards it was "Oh no, something happened!" Like I said, immediately upon lifting the table I felt like something had compressed in my lower back. For all I know, that could have been the event that made one of my discs herniate. Who knows. Perhaps if I'd have known my Osteopath back then, he could have "fixed it" quickly, but instead I was in pain for several weeks.
Lifting will be the one thing I know I will have a hard time overcoming fear of.
I have already started a journal of sorts....a list of issues I want to discuss with my new therapist. Adding back-related fears to that list is a good addition. She will probably get a new Mercedes this year because of me!  |
| mizlorinj |
Posted - 01/21/2008 : 15:27:39
I'm happy you ordered the DVDs because most of your questions are answered on the DVD. Electra is right--it is classing "conditioning"--the thought that "if I move this, my back will hurt" or whatever we have been trained to tell ourselves. I have relatives who tell themselves (and others) that if they move this, their knee or back will hurt, and sure enough they get the pain. While others who do the same activities get no pain, but don't condition themselves to have the pain either.
I was taken aback in 2006 when the osteo told me I had Degen Dis Disease (hate that term) as "people your age usually get this". I was 40. After reading Dr. Sarno's books, I realized people that age have more pressures, etc. and it is manifests itself by creating pain.
May I suggest you do journal writing about your fears (going on zodiac boat and anticipating pain--I used to have similar fears). Start getting some of this stuff out.
-Lori |
| electraglideman |
Posted - 01/21/2008 : 14:58:56
The abnormalities in your back that you decribe are what Sarno calls "normal abnormalities" for someone your age. 30lbs. is not heavy and it should not cause any pain. It sounds like your unconscious has conditioned you to experience pain when you lift or move something that's not that heavy. Now if you are bad out of condition and you rally strain yourself with something really heavy, it would be perfectly natural to experience some pain from that and it should last no more than a week or two. |
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