| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| dewiniaeth |
Posted - 08/10/2008 : 00:17:52
I haven't read about this in any of the TMS books, but I've often wondered... why do athletes get injured and then seem to recover so quickly? I don't hear about professional athletes getting repetitive strain injuries from swinging a golf club or a baseball bat! They get injured, maybe, but are playing again within a few days. Whereas, we people dealing with TMS injure something and, oh no, we can't move that body part ever again! Athletes aren't as worried about it, it seems -- they know they'll get better, and they do. When they have to stop playing for a significant period of time, it's usually from a real injury that makes a whole lot of physical sense. Just curious what your thoughts on this are. Maybe it helps to have a sort of "athlete psychology" about things? |
| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| JohnD |
Posted - 08/12/2008 : 12:55:40
Athletes and those who are more athletic do tend to have a better instinct for their bodies naturally than others who aren't athletic. Some athletes have a greater knowing about their bodies and they also let their bodies tell them what they need to do instead of a doctor aka Jerry Rice cut off his own cast one time and began training and it was just what he needed despite doing against doctors recommendations....Michael Jordan returned to his college to train after the Chicago Bulls limited his activity etc.... |
| swmr1 |
Posted - 08/12/2008 : 07:53:11
I would add that athletes tend to be somewhat obsessive/compulsive about their athletic activity. I think that helps when you have something that is bothering you. The more you WANT to do the activity you fear the more likely you are to chance it. It's easier to challenge the TMS that is irritating your muscles when you really love exercising. And, challenging it is such an effective way to prove to yourself that your body isn't chronically injured.
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| Baseball65 |
Posted - 08/11/2008 : 21:44:01
Go read a Baseball card from the 50's or 60's. Players in Baseball routinely put in 152-154 games a season (it was 154 games long then) for 10 and 16 and 20 seasons in a row...if there was a short season it was usually due to something real like a broken leg...and even than they only missed a few months.
Nowadays, if a player goes 150 out of 162 for more than 3 years he's 'durable'...RSi by several names, back pain and tendonitis are the rule not the exception.
..and, if they do heal, it's only because they have the 'best' medical staffs in the world aka the most powerful placebos available.Funny though...the same ones usually get hurt over and over again. I am a SICK baseball fan and follow the minutiae of the sport.
Very interesting sequence of events. A guy will start playing poorly and THAN it well be announced to the press that he has (fill in TMS symptom)...as if that were the CAUSE. Being an average joe, it's hard to not see that and wonder if his poor play is what triggered the alleged CAUSE and was actually the EFFECT...his elbow started hurting BECAUSE he gave up 10 runs in 4 innings, rather than the the EXCUSE that he gave up 10 runs in 4 innings because of his 'inflamed' elbow.
anyways.... perhaps you're seeing the 'perceived' image of strength...as a money paying fan I am frustrated by the very real fragility of the average modern athlete.
-bb65
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| DrGUID |
Posted - 08/11/2008 : 07:46:56
You obviously don't watch football. I'm not naming names, but in the UK there are plenty of players in the game whose seemingly endless stream of injuries plague their entire careers and who could easily be suffering from TMS. |
| mk6283 |
Posted - 08/10/2008 : 16:43:32
TMS is quite common among athletes as a matter of fact. Marc Sopher actually has a chapter in his book about it. Dr. Sarno is very good with patient confidentiality so I wonder how many famous athletes have actually walked through his doors through the years. Anyway, at least one has slipped through the cracks...
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=120302826696481100
Best,
MK |
| armchairlinguist |
Posted - 08/10/2008 : 13:55:23
Athletes do recover from genuine injuries quickly. So do the rest of us! For most of us, it is only TMS that sticks around.
For athletes when 'injury' does stay around and become chronic, it is probably often TMS as well (as other posters have said). However, I do think an athlete can do genuine permanent damage to themselves sometimes because they are in much more extreme circumstances. But this is likely more rare than believed since some of it may be TMS.
--
What were you expecting? |
| skizzik |
Posted - 08/10/2008 : 11:14:38
furthermore, the average nfl player only plays 3 seasons.
Which means they come in at 23 and out by 26.
It seems like they're around longer because we only pay attention to the gifted players that last 8 seasons or so.
Anyways, I'd bet that when the avg ex-nfl'r is in their 30's experiencing accumulated stresses theres always the old football injury that healed in the past, but mysteriously keeps cropping up.
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| skizzik |
Posted - 08/10/2008 : 10:57:18
quote:
Originally posted by dewiniaeth
I don't hear about professional athletes getting repetitive strain injuries from swinging a golf club
David Duval was the #1 ranked golfer in the world.
Then after winning his first major he came down w/ back pain and vertigo.
Rocco Mediate is arguably the #2 golfer in the world right now and suffers from a bad back.
why these two guys?
You can list the medical reasons ad nauseum.
or
Notice that David Duval as a kid (I think 9 yrs old) lost his older brother (I think 12) who was his best friend to a disease and watched him die. They tried to use David as a bone marrow donor but were unsuccessful. His parents soon seperated over the grief, leaving Duval to throw all his energy on golf to become the best. Once he achieved this I think he felt empty, that it did'nt bring him the happiness he was hoping for. Just my opinion.
I could be mistaken, but I read a story where Rocco lost a brother (possibly twin) at a young age too.
Coincidence that the 2 most famous back pain plagued golfers in the world both lost loved ones at a young age?
NFL Running back Warrick Dunn had a distectomy last year when his leg pain would'nt go away. 6weeks later he was in training camp and had a good season.
I was curious on this and thought could this be tms? Did he have a rough childhood?
I did a search, and as a teenager he had to play the father role model to many siblings as his mother worked 2 jobs to pay the bills. The father was absent for whatever reason (dont remember).
then he became the sole role model for the whole family when his mother was shot to death 10 yrs ago in a robbery (she was a cop at that time).
Prior to his bout w/ leg pain he visited the perpetrator to forgive him early 2007. Then he gets sciatica b4 training camp.
Coincidence? |
| moose1 |
Posted - 08/10/2008 : 10:16:15
They get injured, maybe, but are playing again within a few days.
tons of athletes get injured and are out for weeks, months or whole seasons. a pitcher gets soreness or "tendonitis" in his shoulder or elbow, he'll miss a few starts at least...way more than a few days. guys with "bad backs" miss months or entire seasons. there's plenty of TMS in pro sports that end up with long-term stints on the DL. |
| stanfr |
Posted - 08/10/2008 : 04:23:59
I don't quite get or agree with what you are saying. For one thing, we "TMS folks" dont injure something, the whole point of TMS is there is no real injury. Do you mean athletes don't get TMS?? If so, i beg to differ, they're even prone to it due to their perfectionist tendancies. I was a competitive runner and i'm a TMS poster child. I've seen pro athletes drop like flies with their ubiquitous "herniated discs" etc. I think athletes probably do
recover more quickly from real injuries simply because they're in better physical condition, it helps to be "tough" when you're recovering from an injury. Physical therapy is often hard and painful, and athletes are able to work through that pain because they're physically and mentally tough. Perhaps that is what you are getting at, no question to excel at a sport you have to be able to focus and perform without anxiety, both of which (distraction and anxiety) plaque TMS sufferors. |
