Adam Coloretti’s Story

Chronic Pain
Written By Katy McGhie
“No one knew what was wrong, medical imaging was clear or inconclusive and I was unresponsive to physical therapy.”
 

  • Beginning / Background

    • Developed two minor gym injuries (upper back and groin/hamstring).

    • Injuries structurally healed but fear and catastrophising kept pain alive for six years.

    • Pain was worsened by disrupted fitness identity and fear of damage.

    • Pain acted as an “alarm signal” even after tissue recovery.

    Middle / The Painful Years

    • Spent four years seeing physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors - no success.

    • Even sought tendon specialist abroad; imaging was clear/inconclusive.

    • Physical therapy didn’t work, leaving pain unresolved.

    • Discovered Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) through Dr John Sarno and Dr Howard Schubiner’s work, reframing pain as emotional/psychological in origin.

    The Work & Recovery

    • Committed to mindbody approaches (journalling, emotional exploration, nervous system regulation).

    • Recognised fear of pain and perfectionism/people-pleasing patterns as drivers.

    • Learned triggers were emotional anticipation, not physical activity.

    • Stripped fear away from exercise, gradually returned to pain-free movement.

    • Within 6–12 months of emotional work, became fully pain-free.

    • Now coaches others in recovery using the same principles.

 

    • An initial injury at the gym (that would have healed in a matter of weeks).

    • The false perception that my injury was driving my pain/that my pain was structurally caused.

    • The fact that my pain kept me out of the gym, which was a huge part of my identity at the time.

    • Related to the last point, I realised that the gym being too much of my identity was because I was avoiding other areas of life out of fear. The pain made me face these which heightened fear.

    • The fact that I'd never had a legitimate injury before, and also that I'd never had pain in that part of my body before (my pelvis) - both of these contributed to the fear and panic which made the pain chronic.

    • Looking back, certain personality traits which were a result of me repressing and feeling unsafe with certain emotions - these include people-pleasing and perfectionism.

  • N/A

    • TMS education and theory, which helped me create an evidence list to prove that my symptoms were TMS and not structurally caused.

    • The work of Dr John Sarno and later Dr Howard Schubiner

    • Journalling - which helped me become safer with my emotions and better understand my emotional triggers which were driving the pain.

    • My own chronic pain recovery coach - to guide and support me through the process (this inspired me to now become a coach myself).

  • 6 years

 

Beginning/background

My journey began with two minor muscular injuries at the gym, one in my upper back and the other in my groin/high hamstring. Looking back, I understand that whilst these injuries would have structurally healed in a matter of weeks, my fear and catastrophising that my body was seriously damaged kept the pain switched on for six years. This was both due to my prior lack of injury history making me more reactive, as well as the injuries being in areas where I had never experienced pain before.

In addition to this body-based fear, the injuries ruined my lofty fitness aspirations at the time. As I had made these goals a huge part of my identity and was living out of balance as a result, this disruption was very psychologically threatening and produced a lot of fear and related emotions.

My body had good reasons to sound the alarm and the danger signal that is pain!

 
 
“No one knew what was wrong, medical imaging was clear or inconclusive and I was unresponsive to physical therapy.”
 

Middle/the painful years

I spent the next four years seeing countless professionals, including physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropractors, in an unsuccessful attempt to treat my pain as a structural issue. I even sought out an expert tendon physiotherapist half way across the world in the Netherlands whilst studying there, yet nothing worked and the pain persisted.

No one knew what was wrong, medical imaging was clear or inconclusive and I was unresponsive to physical therapy.

It was only in the last couple of years, through the pioneering work of Dr John Sarno and later Dr Howard Schubiner (amongst others), that I learnt of the condition known as TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome), which explains most chronic pain and other chronic symptoms as having an emotional and psychological root.

 
“I managed to strip the fear away from exercise and slowly but surely was able to exercise without pain”
 
 

The work and recovery

It is exclusively through this mindbody approach and trial and error of the various techniques that I began to see progress, and am now pain-free!

To begin, I dived right into the brain science and idea that suppressed emotions and nervous system dysregulation (from anxiety driven patterns such as people pleasing and perfectionism) could be driving my pain. I used this theory as well as journalling and began to understand that my triggers were actually emotional (the fear of physical activity and anticipation around the pain), rather than the physical acts themselves.

I managed to strip the fear away from exercise and slowly but surely was able to exercise without pain. This was a key breakthrough in convincing myself that my pain was not structurally caused. It took me about 6-12 months of emotional work, but I am now chronic pain free and completely uninhibited physically.

I now coach others to achieve the same outcomes, and am forever grateful to this work and its pioneers for giving me my life back :)

Katy McGhie
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Ilke de Lange’ Story