TMS stands for Tension Myoneural* Syndrome, a term coined by Dr. John Sarno, Professor of Clinical Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University School of Medicine, and attending physician at the Howard A. Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University Medical Center. Dr. Sarno created this term to describe a cohort of his patients who presented with severe and previously incurable pain (often back pain). What was perplexing to Dr Sarno was that often there was no correlation between the pattern of the pain and the presumed reason for the pain.
For example a patient might have a lumbar disc herniated to the left but have pain in the right leg.

88% of Dr Sarno's patients had histories of other disorders strongly suspected of being related to tension such as IBS, eczema, migraine headache, stomach ulcer, colitis and heartburn. He therefore made an assumption that the back pain could also be induced by tension; he postulated that the physical pain was actually a result of emotional factors such as stress and unconsciously repressed emotions (usually anger). In other words the pain was the result of a mind-body connection. Much as grief can cause tears and embarrassment can cause blushing, fear, stress, conditioning, and emotional tension were the cause of physical pain.

When Dr Sarno treated his patients accordingly, most of them began to recover. Some sufferers found this mind-body explanation hard to believe or even funny at first. What wasn't funny, however, was how discovering this diagnosis has helped so many of us recover from debilitating pain that had formerly ruled our lives. By following links on this website, you can find literally hundreds of success stories written by people whose lives were transformed by this diagnosis. As an example, consider this story, written especially for people not familiar with TMS.

The following video presents a good introduction to TMS. It is from 20/20, a well respected US TV newsmagazine on broadcast TV, and many people report that it has helped them with their TMS.
There are no exercises, shots, surgeries, or other painful or expensive treatments involved with the treatment of TMS. Instead, as Dr. Sarno writes, "information ... is the penicillin for this disorder." Therefore, the first several steps in our So You Think You Might Have TMS page provide a great deal of information about TMS. You might try reading over those first several steps if you would like to learn more. Of course, if you think you have TMS, we encourage you to try all of the steps--if you get the recommended books out of your local library, the entire process will be completely free and could transform your life, as it has transformed ours. What do you have to lose?

Who is likely to suffer from TMS?

Because TMS is emotionally induced there are certain personality traits that most sufferers exhibit:
If you have unexplained back pain and are:

A perfectionist
A people pleaser
Very self critical
Very ambitious

Then, once all serious problems like cancer and tumours have been ruled out by conventional methods, you may be suffering from TMS. If that's the case you've come to the right place and you have a very good chance of becoming pain free at last!


* Dr. Sarno has recently changed the expansion of TMS from "Tension Myositis Syndrome" to "Tension Myoneural Syndrome." On some pages of the wiki we still use the word Myositis because more people are familiar with the old term

About editing this page

DISCLAIMER: This web page and the rest of The TMS Wiki can be edited by anyone. The TMS Wiki is not affiliated with any medical professional or medical organization. No information on this site should be considered medical advice. For medical advice, see you doctor.