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healingback
United Kingdom
134 Posts |
 Posted - 01/03/2011 : 12:38:54
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Hi everyone, happy new year... so this past three weeks a lot has been going on and I haven't been able to do my tms homework due to a lot of fmaily problems, but prior to that I was having symptom substititions and did have four days when the back pain decreased, since then its settled back into the lower back area and I'm trying not to not buy into it... so my question is when can I get back to exercising (it still hurts when I walk and stand for two long) but before this pain I was a personal trainer so I'm very aware of the body mechanics... do you think I should start back at the gym and challenge the pain slowly but surely? Or should I wait it out till it subsides? Do you think me exercising will infact help push the tms out of my system quicker?
Many thanks hb
This to shall pass.... |
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guej
115 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2011 : 05:48:47
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I haven't posted in awhile, but this one hits near and dear to my heart.
I would recommend reading "Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain" by Fred Amir, or "Back Sense" by Ron Siegel. Both have very good plans on how to resume and increase activity until you get back to pre-pain levels. I was virtually incapacitated 2 years ago. I went from being an extremely athletic and active person, to doing absolutely nothing for almost 9 months due to pain and fear.
Seeing Dr. Sarno and reading Fred's book gave me the courage to resume activity slowly, and I mean slowly... I went from walking to the corner of my street, to running 3 miles, in about 3 months. Given the fact that I never thought I would run again, that was a miracle to me. I had lots of pain surges that knocked me out again and really discouraged me. What I had to learn to accept was that I couldn't just jump back in and run a marathon. I found my brain was more the problem than my body. You almost have to coax your mind to believing that it's ok, and not harmful. I found that babysteps worked best.
I also stumbled a few times because I kept pushing the bar too quickly. If I ran 2 miles, the next time I wanted to run 2.5. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't. Now I find that I need to hit a plateau and stay there for a bit so my body and mind get used to that being the new normal. I use running examples because they are easier to measure, but it applies to anything. For example, I just came off of a very busy Dec. and being sick. I started running on Sunday for the first time in almost 6 weeks. I ran for 15 minutes. Tomorrow, I'll run for 15 minutes again, and probably one more time, before I move it up to 20 minutes, and stay there for a few runs before I increase it again. Different things work for different people. You'll have to experiment. "Back Sense" has a great chapter on resuming activity and not worrying about spikes of pain. It explains it as normal, and helped give me peace of mind when my confidence was very shaky.
Good luck. I have to say in hindsight, that the biggest contributor to my feeling better (not pain free, but significantly better), was resuming sports. It was a big part of my life pre-pain, and it caused me a tremendous amount of dispair when I lost the ability to do what I loved, which in turn, increased my perception of the pain, etc. Resume activity (and thus, become yourself again), and everything else will slowly fall into place.
Good luck. |
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guej
115 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2011 : 06:12:00
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| The other thing I forgot to add was that if I had waited for the pain to subside before exercising again, I'd still be waiting. For me, exercising made the pain slowly subside, so it was the other way around. Back Sense talks about this too. The focus is on resuming your life, and not reducing pain. By the doing the first, the other follows. That seems to be what worked best for me. |
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healingback
United Kingdom
134 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2011 : 09:09:41
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Guej thanks very much for your reply. . That's just what I needed. .. I do feel that me not training and not living the way I used to I.e in the gym most days is perhaps keeping me in the cycle of pain... its a cycle of being in pain. . Fearing it so that it stops me doing what I want. . Then getting upset or angry because I can't train, live my life etc. .. the very first chiropracter I went to told me to stop all training. .. even no hoovering, the second chiropractor told me I was lucky to not be in a wheelchair... time to prove them wrong... thanks again: )
This to shall pass.... |
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guej
115 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2011 : 09:36:41
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What really clicked for me was that I did not get better when I stopped all activity. In fact, I got worse. Significantly worse. If it was an "injury" like I thought it first was, it would have healed. Instead, the less I did, the worse the pain got. In hindsight, it made absolutely no sense, but at the time, I spiraled so quickly into pain hell that I didn't see it happening. Even if it started as a minor injury, it was my focus and stress over it, and constant worrying that caused it to snowball.
Again, "Back Sense" does a great job of explaining why this happens, and it does happen to a lot of people. Their explanation of fear-pain-more fear - more pain....makes perfect sense to me and literally mirrored my own experience. The book then helps you unwind the cycle the other way..."less fear-less tension-less pain -less fear, etc". I haven't mastered it 100%, but things are much better, and best of all, I'm athletic again. Not exactly where I was before, but I'm hopeful I'll get there. Fred Amir's book shows the same downward cycle through inactivity, and then unwinding of the cycle. Both books were eye opening to me because I finally saw other people who had gone through the exact same experience. They were the "how to" books for me, in addition to the basic Sarno philosophy that first put me on this road back. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2011 : 19:49:07
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From Dr. John Sarno's "THE DIVIDED MIND":
Chapter Ten: "A Family Doctor's Experience With Mindbody Medicine"
by Marc Sopher, M.D.
Page 350:
"RESUME ACTIVITY
You are not really well until you are back doing the activities you formerly enjoyed. While you may have to start slowly (it is still necessary to follow appropriate guidelines for exercise training), you should be able to do whatever you want. We are capable of far more than we have been told. I think very few of us approach our potential because we have been misinformed about the limits of our bodies. I have patients in their sixties, seventies, and eighties running marathons, bicycling across the country, climbing mountains, and participating in other strenuous activities. They are not supermen and superwomen; they are simply folks who have taken good care of themselves and refuse to believe that they are fragile."
Dr. Sopher's web site is: www.themindbodysyndrome.com
DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6415
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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Edited by - tennis tom on 01/05/2011 19:50:11 |
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Back2-It
USA
438 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2011 : 16:06:17
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This is an important topic for me, too.
I was an active person before all this.
Today I jogged! Not far, but I did it. My back didn't cave in, but I still have the weird feeling of a "pulled" muscle in my lower right abdomen and a "stretching" feeling in my sternum. (BTW, it also hurts me to stand for two long).
This was the first time I have jogged since late 2007.
Last year at this time I was fresh off an MRI that said I had a very rare mid back protrusion (one in a million!) and I couldn't even bend over. I was scared. I was told that I might never be one hundred percent again. My refrain was that I'd be better off with leprosy; that at least they could cure it.
Thanks to Dr. Stracks and Dr. Sarno and Dr. Weekes and the many informed and experienced posters on here, I have hope.
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2011 : 15:47:11
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quote:
Originally posted by healingback
...a lot has been going on and I haven't been able to do my tms homework due to a lot of fmaily problems....
I suggest you re-read this statement and really think about it.
Maybe you're pushing down some negative emotions related to these family problems, and this is contributing to the TMS symptoms.
TMS recovery is not about making time to do "homework" but to make a fundamental change in the way we think about and react to the symptoms. Our first thought when we experience pain should be to think about potential sources of repression. Family problems would certainly be near the top of that list. |
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should you start exercising...
