I haven’t had it quite as bad as you, but I’ve struggled for sure. Someone on HN recommended a book called Healing Back Pain[0] - I found it really helpful. Might be worth picking up a copy.
You can't pop your thoracic vertebra out of place. Back surgery is not good for long term treatment of chronic back pain. Have you looked into other causes for your pain? Healing Back Pain by Dr. Sarno describes the psychosomatic component of back pain and many times, back pain is induced by the brain in order to avoid confronting painful emotions, anger and psychological traumas. Pain is a very effective distractor from whatever else you have going on. It may not be the cause of your particular issues, but I highly recommend reading the book.
by vanderpyyy 2019-07-21
I highly recommend reading the book Healing Back Pain by Dr. Sarno. Our brain induces pain in order to distract from painful emotions, anger, and psychological traumas. Pain is the best way your brain knows to distract from whatever else is going on in your life. Your brain is like "Nope, nope, nopenot dealing with that-- here, have some pain instead." When you become aware of this, you can start to connect the dots between your emotions and your physical reactions and eventually resolve your pain.
by vanderpyyy 2019-07-21
Your pain may be psychogenic and you may be suffering from TMS. I highly recommend reading the book Healing Back Pain by Dr. Sarno. It sounds hokey, but the power our brain exerts on our physical reality cannot be discounted. Our brain can induce pain or discomfort in order to distract from painful emotions, anger, and psychological traumas. Pain is the best way your brain knows to distract from whatever else is going on in your life.
Your brain is like "Nope, nope, nope-- not dealing with that-- here, have some pain instead." When you become aware of this, you can start to connect the dots between your emotions and your physical reactions and eventually resolve your pain. It's not physical, it's emotional. Doctors do not consider the impact that emotions have on pain when diagnosing.
I've experienced similar pain to yours, and simply recognizing that the problem is not physically-sourced, but rather psychological lifts the great burden of expecting medical treatment to fix your pain. Your perception of your pain must change in order for the pain to resolve.
by piecu 2018-12-30
Someone wrote it in a similar thread, I benefited from it so I want to write it again, for future readers.
I heard about someone (and then more people replied) that read "Healing Back Pain" book by John Sarno [1] and finally got rid of back pain. However strange it sounds, it seems to work. I didn't finish it yet but I already see the benefits.
I was fortunate enough to have started directly with an emotion-based treatment and the changes from last year to now have been huge. Very incremental and I have no idea when they happened, but I feel so much better now.
> I'm now comfortable suggesting that this approach is overlooked by mainstream medicine to the great detriment of many people suffering chronic illness
I had a severe L4/L5 herniated disc. After several months of agonizing pain I was just about ready to get on the surgery schedule with an orthopedic surgeon (Microdiscectomy). I had tried everything -- PT, prescription pain meds, acupuncture, supplements, bed rest.
The same day I saw the surgeon to schedule my surgery, I figured what the heck, I'll try anything before I get my back cut open. I went to a great, well-reviewed chiropractor, who gave me a thorough assessment and promised improvements in the next 2 months, such that I would not need surgery. I was very skeptical, but went along with it. Her adjustments and analysis did end up helping me a lot, and alleviated a lot of the pain coming from the sciatic nerve. But more than anything this bought me some time.
During this time, I read Healing Back Pain by Dr. John Sarno [0]. Many people recommended his work to me, but again, I was skeptical. I had an MRI scan showing very real structural damage to my spine and I truly didn't believe that thinking my way out of the pain would help. I read the book anyway, and I swear, the pain began dissipating. I began to adopt a new mindset -- my back is fine, the pain is arising out of my stress and awareness of the injury, not the injury itself-- and it truly worked. It's been over a year now since reading the book, and I feel leaps and bounds better. I'm back to doing the things I love (cycling, lifting weights, running), and I'm about 90% pain free. I still have some off days and I listen closely to my body when they happen. I stretch a lot, don't sit for hours at a time, and do basic mobility work every day -- these are things I want to be doing anyway, but my disc issue is even more impetus to do them.
If you're seriously considering surgery, do yourself a favor and read this book first. If you're anything like me, you'll be wildly surprised and completely grateful you did.
This article doesn't have one mention of TMS or the work that John Sarno did? That is borderline irresponsible.
Read "Healing Back Pain: The Mind Body Connection" by Jon Sarno.[1]
I lived with chronic knee pain for over 8 years, and would routinely have "carpal tunnel like symptoms" with my wrists.
Literally within a week of reading that book my knee pain was gone, and my wrists have not had any issues since. My personality type is exactly that described in the book, so it might not work for everyone. But boy howdy it worked for me.
[0]https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Back-Pain-Mind-Body-Connectio...
You can't pop your thoracic vertebra out of place. Back surgery is not good for long term treatment of chronic back pain. Have you looked into other causes for your pain? Healing Back Pain by Dr. Sarno describes the psychosomatic component of back pain and many times, back pain is induced by the brain in order to avoid confronting painful emotions, anger and psychological traumas. Pain is a very effective distractor from whatever else you have going on. It may not be the cause of your particular issues, but I highly recommend reading the book.
I highly recommend reading the book Healing Back Pain by Dr. Sarno. Our brain induces pain in order to distract from painful emotions, anger, and psychological traumas. Pain is the best way your brain knows to distract from whatever else is going on in your life. Your brain is like "Nope, nope, nopenot dealing with that-- here, have some pain instead." When you become aware of this, you can start to connect the dots between your emotions and your physical reactions and eventually resolve your pain.
Your pain may be psychogenic and you may be suffering from TMS. I highly recommend reading the book Healing Back Pain by Dr. Sarno. It sounds hokey, but the power our brain exerts on our physical reality cannot be discounted. Our brain can induce pain or discomfort in order to distract from painful emotions, anger, and psychological traumas. Pain is the best way your brain knows to distract from whatever else is going on in your life.
Your brain is like "Nope, nope, nope-- not dealing with that-- here, have some pain instead." When you become aware of this, you can start to connect the dots between your emotions and your physical reactions and eventually resolve your pain. It's not physical, it's emotional. Doctors do not consider the impact that emotions have on pain when diagnosing.
I've experienced similar pain to yours, and simply recognizing that the problem is not physically-sourced, but rather psychological lifts the great burden of expecting medical treatment to fix your pain. Your perception of your pain must change in order for the pain to resolve.
I heard about someone (and then more people replied) that read "Healing Back Pain" book by John Sarno [1] and finally got rid of back pain. However strange it sounds, it seems to work. I didn't finish it yet but I already see the benefits.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Back-Pain-Mind-Body-Connectio...
> I'm now comfortable suggesting that this approach is overlooked by mainstream medicine to the great detriment of many people suffering chronic illness
If people are interested in this, checkout https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Back-Pain-Mind-Body-Connectio...
The same day I saw the surgeon to schedule my surgery, I figured what the heck, I'll try anything before I get my back cut open. I went to a great, well-reviewed chiropractor, who gave me a thorough assessment and promised improvements in the next 2 months, such that I would not need surgery. I was very skeptical, but went along with it. Her adjustments and analysis did end up helping me a lot, and alleviated a lot of the pain coming from the sciatic nerve. But more than anything this bought me some time.
During this time, I read Healing Back Pain by Dr. John Sarno [0]. Many people recommended his work to me, but again, I was skeptical. I had an MRI scan showing very real structural damage to my spine and I truly didn't believe that thinking my way out of the pain would help. I read the book anyway, and I swear, the pain began dissipating. I began to adopt a new mindset -- my back is fine, the pain is arising out of my stress and awareness of the injury, not the injury itself-- and it truly worked. It's been over a year now since reading the book, and I feel leaps and bounds better. I'm back to doing the things I love (cycling, lifting weights, running), and I'm about 90% pain free. I still have some off days and I listen closely to my body when they happen. I stretch a lot, don't sit for hours at a time, and do basic mobility work every day -- these are things I want to be doing anyway, but my disc issue is even more impetus to do them.
If you're seriously considering surgery, do yourself a favor and read this book first. If you're anything like me, you'll be wildly surprised and completely grateful you did.
[0]https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Back-Pain-Mind-Body-Connectio...
https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Back-Pain-Mind-Body-Connectio...
http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/mb_what_is.html
Read "Healing Back Pain: The Mind Body Connection" by Jon Sarno.[1]
I lived with chronic knee pain for over 8 years, and would routinely have "carpal tunnel like symptoms" with my wrists.
Literally within a week of reading that book my knee pain was gone, and my wrists have not had any issues since. My personality type is exactly that described in the book, so it might not work for everyone. But boy howdy it worked for me.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Back-Pain-Mind-Body-Connectio...
Edit: As it relates to the article - Dr. Sarno attributes most of the pain to your brain and unconscious emotional rage. It sounds kind of quackish, but he lays out excellent explanations of how your brain works against you to cause this chronic pain. I was a skeptical as well (I won't give away spoilers but the treatment plan is HILARIOUSLY simple) but it has really worked for me.
I was skeptical at first, but just reading his book and thinking through what he presented healed my lower back pain.