What to Do About Back Pain: Relax and Just Say No to the Pain?

In America, thousands of people experience back pain daily. In fact, lower back pain is one of the more common workman's-compensation-related complaint, simply because it is widespread; it is debilitating; and it is impossible to prove or disprove.

Dr. John E. Sarno uses a term for most back pain, and other types of chronic pain as well: tension myositis syndrome. This syndrome, TMS for short, refers to a mild oxygen-deprivation disorder that causes pain to be felt in an area of the body.

Dr. Sarno was a head of the outpatient department at Rusk Institute at New York University Medical Center when he realized how many people experienced back pain and how largely ineffective current treatments were. This led him to a study of pain and why some people experience the feeling of pain and others do not.

Typically, back pain is attributed to structural abnormalities like bulging discs; herniated discs; narrowed spinal canal; or disk degeneration. However studies show that approximately one in five people under the age of 60 have the same so-called structural abnormalities with no pain whatsoever. Most back pain tends to go away on its own after a period of time, regardless of the type of treatment. But for about seven out of 10 persons who suffer back pain, the pain reoccurs.

Dr. Sarno coined his phrase tension myositis syndrome (TMS) because his studies led him to believe that most chronic pain is the result of mild oxygen deprivation, brought on by the brain altering blood flow to a particular area. And why would the brain cause an area of the body to experience oxygen deprivation? According to Dr. John E. Sarno, the reason is repressed rage.

The brain is creating a distraction from the rage one feels by focusing the individual's attention on an area of the body: back pain, wrist pain, GERD, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma and even fibromyalgia pain. The theory of the unconscious is a bit old-fashioned these days when we prefer to seek chemical or structural imbalances as reasons for why we feel or do.

But Dr. Sarno's studies have led him to believe that the brain was designed to create distractions from undesirable or dangerous feelings. He notes that people commonly referred to as perfectionists: ambitious, driven, hard-working and so on, were often the personality types that succumbed to TMS. Self-imposed pressures or trying to measure up; pressures from outside, like work or family or other external factors; and leftover rage from childhood from parents who expected too much or did no support enough, contribute to what he calls the "reservoir of rage" that eventually manifests itself by causing pain in a part of the body.

Treatment for back pain and other common types of pain created by the brain's response to the unconscious is often as simple as merely knowing the source of the pain or discomfort. According to Dr. Sarno and anecdotal incidents (including one by reporter John Stossel) indicate that many times just becoming aware of the theory of TMS is enough to reduce the pain. In other words, you can "just say No" to the pain and it will dissipate or even disappear.

Many other orthopedic surgeons, pain management doctors, and physical therapists agree in part with Dr. Sarno's findings. That is, studies are showing that there is often no physical reason or surgical intervention for back pain and other recurrent pain. Stretching exercises, guided relaxation, yoga exercises and other nonsurgical care all seem to help even patients with severe back pain.

These results offer hope to sufferers of chronic pain, and certainly indicate that the mind/body connection is perhaps more vast than previously realized.