Tension Myositis Syndrome

[EricM]

Tension myositis syndrome, for a quick background see this link at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tension_myositis_syndrome

Any comments on this? Is anyone out there familiar with Dr. John Sarno's work?

Eric

[Jon Newman]

Hi Eric,

I'm unfamiliar with Sarno except for just a little bit as his name appears here and there on these forums. He has a more plausible explanation than the MFR folks as he is not giving tissues attributes that they do not have making it inappropriate to reject his ideas outright. I'd have to actually read this book to make any more commentary on it. Perhaps someone else here already has.

[Barrett Dorko]

Eric,

As it happens, I worked briefly in Sarno’s outpatient clinic in Manhattan in 1973. I know it was a long time ago, but remember that “I’m the Forrest Gump of manual care” thing I do? This is one of those stories.

I remember this experience distinctly because it was my very first opportunity to actually treat patients after graduation though before licensure. The patients for the most part had a primary complaint of pain, usually including spinal discomfort. Whatever their exam might have consisted of-and I don’t recall being involved-the treatment was pretty much the same; a combination of electric stim and ultrasound followed by generic flexion exercises. That was it.

I felt at even that stage of my career that something was wrong with this approach and it was made very clear to me that Sarno was completely in charge of what was done.

Sarno has a wonderful publicist and has had some success with several celebrities. You’ll hear a lot about this anytime his work is mentioned. What he says about the roots of pain lying in suppressed anger is little more than a good story as far as I can see, and I don’t think I’m the only one.

[Jon Newman]

I think it might have been more accurate for Sarno to suggest that pain is more probable with suppressed anger (I'm not sure how we're supposed to detect this) and then set out to try to demonstrate this.

I do think it is inaccurate, except in the case of central pain, to make the statement that one needs to "repudiate the physical and acknowledge the psychological aspect" of pain. While pain itself is necessarily a psychological phenomenon, the stuff we typically treat has its origins in the periphery. I don’t think it is necessary to repudiate that fact in order to feel better.


ps Eric, you're probably wondering how Hugh Macleod (http://www.gapingvoid.com/) even knew you existed. A perfect fit.