Pain on Both Sides of the Body? It’s probably TMS!
You’ve had this nagging pain that won’t go away in your arm, shoulder or leg, and then one fine day, to your horror, you notice that you’ve got exactly the same pain on the other side! What’s wrong? Wasn’t it enough for one side to be out of order? But here’s the good news for you. If you’re experiencing the same kind of chronic pain on both sides of the body, then this is a strong indication that all you’ve got is TMS, or Tension Myositis Syndrome.
One thing you definitely need to overcome TMS is increased confidence in the diagnosis itself by believing that there is nothing structurally wrong with your body. Having pain on both sides of the body shows you that your pain doesn’t really make sense from a structural perspective, and should therefore increase your belief in TMS.
Tension Myositis Syndrome is a mindbody condition whereby the body learns to create pain on an unconscious level because it has been programmed to work that way. If you’re totally new to TMS, you may think that what I’m saying is a load of bullocks… how can your pain be emotional when it’s all too real? TMS pain is very real, and very physical, as I seek to explain in my article, ‘What is TMS’.
How it all starts
‘Mirrored pain’ can be anything from muscle pain and ligament pain to nerve pain on both sides of the body, in any area. If your body is mirroring pain, then probably it started out just on one side, and it could even have started as real acute pain following an injury.
Let’s say you’ve injured your calf while running 3 months ago, but you can still feel pain if you try to run, even though you should have recovered by now. When pain is still persistent even if damage is no longer visible, then you’ve got a case for TMS… Pain started with the good intention to warn you of your injury, so that you could rest your body and recover. The problem with chronic pain is that the mindbody has learnt to keep keep firing that pain signal even after you’ve recovered.
And now, to make things worse, it has replicated the same kind of pain on the other side!
Why pain on both sides of the body is probably TMS
You may think that pain moving to the other side of your body is more bad news, but I’m here to tell you that it’s probably the contrary. This is because the two sides of the body are structurally very unrelated. What this means is that from a scientific perspective, it’s very unlikely to have structural damage that causes pain on both sides. To take a couple of examples, a pinched nerve in your back would probably cause shooting pain only on one side of the body. Similarly, if you’ve got a kidney infection, pain is usually felt on just one side of the back.
Incidentally, diffused pain on both sides of the body is one of the symptoms that doctors use to diagnose fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, people who go down the route of fibromyalgia normally do so without being aware that this is just an extreme manifestation of TMS, and that like TMS, you can cure it or at least relieve the symptoms significantly. You’ll find more information on my article about TMS and Fibromyalgia.
Before going further, I must stress that there could indeed be an underlying condition that is causing pain on both sides of the body, and you should always get tested if the pain is sudden, severe or if it is accompanied by other symptoms, to rule out serious conditions like tumours or infection. But in the majority of cases, especially when the pain has been there for over 4 months and the person has done all the recommended tests, the probability is extremely high that all you’ve got is Tension Myositis Syndrome.
Speaking of MRIs, a pinched nerve or herniated disc most often doesn't count as a good reason for having severe pain on both sides of the body either. In fact, several studies have now shown that herniated discs are not the cause of back pain, but simply a ‘normal abnormality’ in the body.
When we are in pain (both acute and chronic), what happens is that our brain has made a connection with the pain area, in order to be able to send us a warning. This warning is very much needed in the case of acute pain, so that we take action and not damage the area further. But the problem with chronic pain on both sides is that the brain and body have maintained that connection, just like an electric circuit that keeps firing! Luckily, there are several techniques that can help you break that circuit.
Pain moving to other side of the body is an important TMS clue
So now what? Well if you accept the TMS diagnosis, now you can work towards becoming pain free! Getting pain on both sides of the body is just one of the elements of proof you need to support your diagnosis and strengthen your belief that this is just TMS. It is a fact that supports the idea that your pain is not purely structural, but that your brain is cleverly playing a part. I like to think of pain moving from one side of the body to another as a clue in your TMS journey.
One thing you definitely need to overcome TMS is increased confidence in the diagnosis itself by believing that there is nothing structurally wrong with your body. Having pain on both sides of the body shows you that your pain doesn’t really make sense from a structural perspective, and should therefore increase your belief in TMS.
Breaking the chronic pain pathway
Changing the way you react to your pain is the second step toward healing. You see, the pain pathways are strengthened if we give them more attention through fear and trepidation. In fact, chronic pain can be understood in the same way as any emotion we have on a daily basis – the more you cultivate an emotion, the more you are likely to experience it. At first it will be difficult to change a negative emotion, because you’re so used to reproducing it every single day, more often than not on a purely subconscious level.
It is the same with chronic pain. Initially it will be hard to break that pain pathway, because the process of its manifestation is totally unconscious. But as you start to challenge it, and making all your thoughts and emotions around it conscious, then you’ll be well on your way to ending your pain once and for all. All this without needing to resort to drugs, physical therapy or surgery!
Same pain on both sides of the body? It’s probably TMS!
You’ve had this nagging pain that won’t go away in your arm, shoulder or leg, and then one fine day, to your horror, you notice that you’ve got exactly the same pain on the other side! What’s wrong? Wasn’t it enough for one side to be out of order? But here’s the good news for you. If you’re experiencing the same kind of chronic pain on both sides of the body, then this is a strong indication that all you’ve got is TMS, or Tension Myositis Syndrome.
Tension Myositis Syndrome is a mindbody condition whereby the body learns to create pain un an unconscious level because it has been programmed to work that way. If you’re totally new to TMS, you may think that what I’m saying is a load of bullocks… how can your pain be emotional when it’s all too real? TMS pain is very real, and very physical, as I seek to explain here at PainOutSidetheBox.
How it all starts
Pain on both sides of the body can be anything from nerve pain to muscle pain and ligament pain, in any area. If your body is mirroring pain, then probably it started out just on one side, and it could even have started as real acute pain following an injury.
Let’s say you’ve injured your calf while running 3 months ago, but you can still feel pain if you try to run, even though you should have recovered by now. When pain is still persistent even if damage is no longer visible, then you’ve got a case for TMS… Pain started with the good intention to warn you of your injury, so that you could rest your body and recover. The problem with chronic pain is that the mindbody has learnt to keep keep firing that pain signal even after you’ve recovered. And now, to make things worse, it has replicated the same kind of pain on the other side!
Why pain on both sides of the body is probably TMS
You may think that pain moving to the other side of your body is more bad news, but I’m here to tell you that it’s probably the contrary. This is because the two sides of the body are structurally very unrelated. What this means is that from a scientific perspective, it’s very unlikely to have a pinched nerve in your back that is causing the same kind of pain on both sides.
To keep things straight, yes there could be an underlying condition that is causing pain on both sides of the body, and you should always get tested if the pain is severe, to rule out serious conditions like tumours or infection. But in the majority of cases, especially when the pain has been there for over 4 months and an MRI is done, revealing that there’s nothing wrong, the probability is extremely high that all you’ve got is Tension Myositis Syndrome. Speaking of MRIs, a pinched nerve or herniated disc most often doesn't count as a good reason for having severe pain on both sides of the body either. In fact, several studies have now shown that herniated discs are not the cause of back pain, but simply a ‘normal abnormality’ in the body.
When we are in pain (both acute and chronic), the brain has made a connection with the pain area, in order to be able to send us a warning. The problem with chronic pain on both sides is that the brain and body have maintained that connection, just like an electric circuit that keeps firing! Luckily, there are several techniques that can help you break that circuit.
Pain moved to other side of the body – an important TMS clue
So now what? Well if you accept the TMS diagnosis, now you can work towards being pain free! Getting pain on both sides of the body is just one of the elements of proof you need to support your diagnosis and strengthen your belief that this is just TMS. It is a fact that supports the idea that your pain is not purely structural, but that your brain is cleverly playing a part. I like to think of pain moving from one side of the body to another as a clue in your TMS journey.
One thing you definitely need to overcome TMS is increased confidence in the diagnosis itself. Having pain on both sides of the body shows you that your pain doesn’t really make sense from a structural perspective. It only makes sense when you think in terms of pain pathways, and how these are strengthened by the brain.
Changing the way you react to your pain is the second step toward healing. You see, the pain pathways are strengthened if we give them more attention through fear and trepidation. Chronic pain can be understood in the same way as any emotions we have on a daily basis – the more you cultivate an emotion, the more you are likely to experience it. At first it will be difficult to change a negative emotion, because you’re so used to experiencing it every single day that you start ‘producing’ it subconsciously.
It is the same with chronic pain. Initially it will be hard to break that pain pathway, because the process of its manifestation is totally unconscious. But as you start to challenge it, and making all your thoughts and emotions around it conscious, then you’ll be well on your way to ending your pain once and for all. Without needing to resort to drugs, physical therapy or surgery!