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Brian
9 Posts |
 Posted - 04/21/2005 : 08:00:33
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| Has anyone had severe tennis elbow and been successful using the TMS approach? I have had the typical pain on the bony part of my outside elbow for 4 months. |
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Jim D.
USA
63 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2005 : 11:08:16
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I have experienced elbow pain and have had success with the anti-TMS techniques. I first found Sarno when suffering from bad back pain and, from reading Healing Back Pain, experienced one of those miraculous recoveries--the pain has never come back in any serious way. BUT elbow pain did take over, and that proved more difficult. It somehow seemed more closely related to activities I was performing (such as lifting weights), and so the mind had a field day making the connection to the pain. To make matters worse, the pain diminished when I stopped lifting.
I read and reread Dr. Sarno's brief sections on elbow pain and Dr. Sopher's longer treatment of it. In an e-mail Sopher pointed out some of the inconsistencies in the pain (the elbow sometimes hurt when I hadn't "abused" it for a while, and other times it did not hurt even when I exercised). This helped a lot. One day after working out, I suddenly realized I hadn't had any pain at all. It did return a few weeks later, but the very inconsistency was one of the clues that it was TMS. I did "the work" of examining my anger/rage. I also came to the conclusion that the elbow pain was my mind's effort to keep me from doing things I really wanted to do--and so to keep my self-image and self-confidence low.
Ignoring the pain is the hardest part. Everything you read about tennis (or golfer's) elbow gives dire warnings as to what damage you can do to yourself. I quit looking at websites and quit reading about injuries. I exercised through the pain, and sometimes it really hurt a lot. But (I am superstitious enough to worry about tempting the fates in saying this) I have experienced a lot of progress lately. The past few weeks I have been lifting more weight and have not experienced significant pain.
I wish I could point to some turning point or "eureka" moment that I could tell you about, but I cannot. TMS requires faith in the diagnosis, and lots of doubts crop up from time to time. Feel free to write again if you have more questions. Good luck in overcoming this--it can be done! |
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Brian
9 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2005 : 12:43:05
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| Thanks for the response Jim. I know it has to be TMS but the pain is always there even though I initially rested it for 4 weeks after it started hurting. Now it hurts in morning(like I am sleeping on it wrong.) My big mental block is that my "injured elbow appears inflamed(swelling) compared to the other one. I am going to try to suck it up and get through it. |
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Jim D.
USA
63 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2005 : 13:09:53
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Did you injure the elbow? If I had swelling, I think I would have it checked out. I believe there is one place where Sarno says he initially thought swelling was counter-indicative of TMS, but he changed his mind. I myself have never had any swelling in my elbow, although sometimes my imagination has led to believe it was there.
The problem with going to a doctor, of course, is that if he or she says the elbow is inflamed, that is going to reinforce TMS in your mind. If it's an actual injury, it will get better fairly soon. As is well documented on this forum, the mind often takes a physical injury and builds it up into a long-term TMS situation. This happened to me when I accidentally bent my thumb back too far. It was definitely an injury, and I went to a physical therapist and also got painkillers. But after a few weeks, I realized the pain was hanging on much too long, recognized it as probably TMS, and it went away shortly afterward. |
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Brian
9 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2005 : 18:03:28
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| No there was no injury or sudden action that immediately cause pain. I just notice after my pain started that my the bony part of my bad elbow was more pronounced than my other one. Maybe it has always been this way. |
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Felicity
United Kingdom
12 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2007 : 07:37:39
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Hi Brian,
Just wondered how the tennis elbow was going. Developed this in both elbows 8 months ago after too much weight in the gym. Came on gradually in one elbow and quckly in the other. People keep telling me this will never go away which doesn't help my TMS. Dont know if this injury is TMS, tennis elbow or tennis elbow that has gone into TMS. Really fed up. Any ideas |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2007 : 08:50:47
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"People keep telling me this will never go away which doesn't help my TMS."
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The nocebo effect at it's finest--that's a bunch of b.s. I've had tennis elbow and it went away completely. if you didn't feel a structural trauma at the time it occured, it's probably TMS.
If it's a legitimate injury and you have bad technique, that is causing and exacerbating it, then as AustinGary used to say, if you hit yourself with a hammer 800 times, that's not tms. |
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redskater
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2007 : 09:29:59
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I had it first in left arm before knowing about tms. Once I learned about it I started playing golf again, took awhile to go away, but it did. It got worse when I was babying it, once I started using it it eventually faded but it did take some time. 2 weeks ago my husband came down with shingles and it was a very stressful week, and guess what i got the same pain in the other arm. it's been 2 weeks and it's still there but it is subsiding. i ignore it (cause i didn't do anything to make it sore) and i know in it's time it too will disappear.
gaye
Gaye |
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Tennis Elbow
