05/09/2026
Dr. John Sarno spent decades as head of NYU’s School of Rehabilitative Medicine studying one surprising pattern:
Many people with severe chronic pain had nothing structurally wrong with them.
His conclusion:
Repressed emotions, chronic tension, and stress keep the nervous system in protection mode.
And protection mode creates real physical pain.
This explains why symptoms often:
Move from neck to back to hip
Flare during stress
Disappear on vacation
Return during pressure
Come and go at random times
He called this condition TMS (Tension Myoneural Syndrome).
And his discovery has helped heal thousands.
Howard Stern.
Larry David.
Anne Bancroft.
Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black director.)
And many regular people like me.
I went from lying on the couch in a neck brace…
to training for my second marathon.
My final thought:
If your pain doesn’t follow a clear structural pattern…
your nervous system may be the real driver.
And when the system feels safe again,
the pain often loses its reason to stay.
Comment WHAT?! if you can’t believe it and I’ll send you the video of the congressional hearing where Senator Harkin talks about how he eliminated his chronic pain using this exact approach. ❤️🩹.
