The main reason that "upper body wellness" appeared as such a high priority recently is that I've been having a lot of pain in my right hand and elbow. I stopped weight lifting about a month ago because the pain didn't go away the day after the workout. So I thought I might be doing more harm than good.
In the Ganoskin Orchid mailing list, I read an enthusiastic recommendation for a book on healing such pain with very gentle, precise stretching. I ordered the book and as noted in an earlier post, felt very optimistic about this approach helping. I've been doing the stretches pretty regularly since. But the intermittent pain continued - with some improvement perhaps.
I was beginning to do less and less. One morning holding my coffee cup hurt my thumb. Another day, cutting up a peach was painful. This was getting to be very distracting. Doing even a little bit of work in the blacksmithing studio seemed to cause pain, no matter what the task.
Last night I began to take seriously the possibility that this is a "Sarno pain." Really the term John Sarno uses is TMS - "tension myositis syndrome." But it means pain caused by subtle decreases in blood flow, adjusted by the mind to deliberately cause pain as a distraction from anxiety creating emotions. The mind is trying to protect the self from emotions that are unacceptable - that are "life threatening" to the self image. "That's not me. I wouldn't feel THAT way." To feel the emotions would "kill" the self (or so the mind believes.)
The mind chooses pain that has a believable physical cause - whether it's a stomach upset "caused by bacteria" or carpal tunnel syndrome, or an "injured back" or "tennis elbow" - or whatever else is credible. This becomes a "real problem" that serves as a great distraction from the emotions threatening to surface from the unconscious. Instead, the person is busy researching "the problem" on the internet, buying different vitamins or foods or health aids, doing stretching and exercises, etc. (Yep, that's me!)
Yes, I fell for it again! Darn - still human....and still resisting admitting it! Oh well, better late than never. Guess it was a little premature when I put the Sarno books on one of the top shelves that I reach only with a ladder.
The link I mentioned above has a very clear explanation. There's an active forum on TMS and the Sarno approach. I recommend his books, especially The Mindbody Prescription. I worked with The Mindbody Workbook, by David Schechter MD, after I fell in Feb. '02 and broke some bones. I was working on why this accident occurred and how to heal well. (Because I'd broken my right elbow, I had to write all my workbook entries with my non-dominant hand, which was a challenge.) The workbook is OK and does help some people, but I didn't find it as helpful as working directly with the Sarno books. The other main book based on the Sarno approach is the book by Fred Amir, Rapid Recovery.... It's worth reading just for his story. And he has a few extra things to try.
One reason that I'm now sure that my hand and elbow pain is a "Sarno pain" is that today it's much less. This often happens, that once you "catch on" and are no longer fooled, the mind gives up and stops causing the pain. Unless you get to the underlying emotions, though, some other more credible pain may occur. Still, the respite is nice!
3:30:37 PM 
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