Hi Max, Writing because I have the experience of full recovery after a few months of RSI conditions. I notice your post does not contain any mentions towards investigating the alternate possibility of TMS Syndrome (which is what finally worked for me). Are you aware of it?
- The Harvard RSI Action group has some good starter resources on TMS approach.
-The London RSI support group, that i briefly attended, itself recommended looking into TMS alternative and they can vouch for many people that got permanently cured from RSI symptoms.
Hi Tofan, I'm glad you got relief from that! That must be amazing for you! Sorry if this comment is a bit caustic, in general I'm critical, though undecided about Sarno. I tried it and it hasn't worked for me. I'm definitely aware of it, and I've read Sarno's books. Sarno insists that you might have to fully believe his theory to get the results, and it's possible I haven't succeeded in doing that, though I have 'tried on' the hypothesis. I've also tried out the "Curable" app and found that they advocate a less extreme and more plausible version of the psychosomatic pain hypothesis then Sarno.
I was planning on adding a section on investigating the possibility of your pain is psychosomatic, but I've left that out for now because I didn't feel I had a settled opinion on the subject or knew what to recommend.
Sarno says some things that I view as deeply problematic, like when he says that lifting techniques doesn't matter or when he recommends discontinuing physical therapies. His theory of unconscious rage being responsible for chronic pain is also Freudian, and Freud is quite discredited.
My leading hypothesis about why he gets the results that he does in some cases is that his treatment gets people to return to activity and helps remove the psychological contribution to pain. Some people are probably actually recovered enough that returning to his fine and even helpful. I also imagine for a lot of people (myself included) the secondary psychological reaction to the pain (such as viewing yourself as crippled and feeling helpless) is more significant than the pain itself.
What makes you think there is more scientific backing to the TMS theory than the RSI theory? It seems to be true that there is a lot that isn't understood about how chronic pain and RSI work, but TMS seems to me even more mysterious.
I like Paul Ingraham's analysis of Sarno here.
Hi Max, Writing because I have the experience of full recovery after a few months of RSI conditions. I notice your post does not contain any mentions towards investigating the alternate possibility of TMS Syndrome (which is what finally worked for me). Are you aware of it?
- The Harvard RSI Action group has some good starter resources on TMS approach.
-The London RSI support group, that i briefly attended, itself recommended looking into TMS alternative and they can vouch for many people that got permanently cured from RSI symptoms.
-I myself very strongly s... (read more)