Hi Ben,

I'm glad I could help a bit. You can read about my own history in my previous posts, and I can give you more details in a PM if you wish (not here to avoid derailing your thread).

These routine activities do not harm our brains. What kind of shoes do you wear? I now wear sneakers to go to work to minimize the jarring, and I have more formal shoes in my backpack or in my office if needed.

Even if we trigger symptoms by walking or taking the subway, the cost-benefit analysis clearly says that going out is better than staying home all the time. We would harm ourselves much more if we decided to stay home, isolated, and give up on our social life and activities. The adverse health effects of solitude are very well documented, perhaps even more so than the long-term issues you are worried about (CTE, etc.).

Mark said it many times already: the answer is clearly yes. This board should have set the facts straight for you, not you should work on accepting this knowledge. Think about the big picture again. No one knows exactly how we would feel now if we had been able to control our anxiety these past months/years. But the direction is clear: reducing anxiety is somewhat under our control, and it helps us, so we have to do it.

All the best.

Ok thanks for clearing that up.

Thank you for the recommendations. For the sake of defending myself I'll just say I was referring to the thread where you told someone the cost/benifit of getting hbot was not worth it since he had to take the bumpy bus to get there but we are splitting peas at this point.

The psychiatrist I said told me the same thing, that i should try to dedicate myself to the therapy for the next couple months and then see what benifits I can get from it and then moving to medication if I'm still not where I want to be.

Thanks Vania. I should invest in some good sneakers since I usually just wear boots or skateboarding shoes so I'm guessing that's only making the sensitivity worse. I also think the sensitivity to walking could be largely if not entirely due to neck issues but I don't know for sure.

I was not saying that these actions are necessarily damaging or led to cte or anything i was just saying it's very frustrating to have an event trigger symptoms and or anxiety and then have go try and concentrate in a classroom or have a conversation with someone, that's all.

I dont isolate myself or anything, like I said I go to school every day, go to therapy, osteopathy and try and push myself to spend time with friends/gf as much as I'm able to but it can be very difficult sometimes and my health restraints and cognitive symptoms has lead to some really bad depressive periods. But still I push through.

Cushioned insoles?? cheaper than new shoes..
There are even videos on you tube on how to walk & move more gently - Feldenkrais? & Alexander techniques..

Thanks yah I've been meaning to buy some however I'm gonna try to just walk normally and not think about it cause the docs said there's no way it can harm me even if it causes symptoms so maybe if I don't pay attention to it will improve.

Yes, if you can afford it I would definitely recommend that. For me, wearing very comfortable shoes (with a soft sole instead of a rigid one, and an additional sole inside) has really helped. I am much less bothered by the jarring now. Some brands even specialize in shoes for people with severe back issues. These shoes are designed to reduce the vibrations of the spine.

Yah thanks I'll look into it. Also if you haven't already you should get your back and neck checked out. I find that after my osteopath sessions my sensitivity issue is pretty much completely gone. This leafs me to think it's something in my spine that's maybe behind it.

As we have said many times, C-0 (occiput) to C-2 can be a critical area that needs to proper gentle treatment and time to strengthen.

Do you think I'll get improvements if I do pt and try and watch my posture?