About this product: Healing Back Pain promises permanent elimination of back pain without drugs, surgery, or exercise. It should have been titled Understanding TMS Pain, because it discusses one particular cause of back pain--Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS)--and isn't really a program for self-treatment, with only five pages of action plan (and many more pages telling why conventional methods don't work). According to John E. Sarno, M.D., TMS is the major cause of pain in the back, neck, shoulders, buttocks, and limbs--and it is caused not by structural abnormalities but by the mind's effort to repress emotions. He's not saying that your pain is all in your head; rather, he's saying that the battle going on in your mind results in a real physical disorder that may affect muscles, nerves, tendons, or ligaments. An injury may have triggered the disorder, but is not the cause of the amount or intensity of the resulting pain. According to Sarno, the mind tricks you into not facing repressed emotion by making you focus on pain in the body. When this realization sinks in ("and it must sink in, for mere intellectual appreciation of the process is not enough"), the trick doesn't work any more, and there's no need for the pain. (Healing Back Pain should not be used for self-diagnosis. Always consult a physician for chronic or acute back pain.) --Joan Price
About this product: I wish I had this book years ago. I compressed two vertebrae in my spine when I was in my twenties. I wore a Jewitt brace for a year. Now I am seventy one, and what was once mild discomfort has become very distracting pain.
I was immediately struck with the author's notion that good posture is simply natural posture, and that poor posture seems to be more of a product of growing up in a modern industrialized country. Pictures of naked babies, naked toddlers, near naked teens, and adults in third world countries drive this point home. Even photographs of ancient statues attest to this view. Perhaps this is because adults in modern nations do not have to depend on the strength of their backs to survive. Anyway, the authors ask, "Remember When it Didn't Hurt?"
I just got the book and have only skimmed through it - trying out each of the exercises. Since I suffered a serious back injury, it wouldn't be fair for me to gritch about not being able to find any great pain reduction by using these exercises. I can say that the whole book is well written and well illustrated. It is beautiful. And the Amazon.com price is absurdly low. The exercises do not cause me any noteworthy discomfort. And I am impressed with Helen Barkan's, MD., PhD., Neurology, of MAYO CLINIC endorsement: "The greatest contribution ever made to non-surgical back pain treatment."
I plan to work this book very seriously. I don't want a risky surgical solution.
Dr. Art Brownstein suffered back pain for twenty agonizing years. Now he shares the cure that worked for him and thousands of others: his revolutionary Back to Life Program.
Sharing his own story of surgery, painkiller dependency, and severe depression, Dr. Brownstein guides you through the recovery program that gave him his life back. Today, he runs a medical practice, bikes, surfboards, teaches yoga, and leads an active life -- free of pain!
About this product: When I first read Dr. Sarno's Mind Over Back Pain I developed a good understanding of the mind/body connection. It was his Healing Back Pain that give me a deeper understanding of how repressed anger, anxiety, and frustration can cause pain. At the time I was disabled with back, leg, neck, and hand pain, and quite disappointed and frustrated with the treatments I had recieved.
Dr. Sarno's explanation answered all my questions about my condition and fit perfectly well with all the crucial research information I had discovered. Although Dr. Sarno's guidelines seemed useful, I felt the need for more concrete steps and a faster recovery time. As a father of two, I wanted to get well as quickly as possible.
So I designed an effective nine-step plan for rapid recovery based on techniques used by Olympic athletes. The rapid recovery plan helped me improve immediately and recover shortly after. Those with herniated discs as well as carpal tunnel syndrome have recovered rapidly using these techniques.
After my recovery I wanted to share my story and the recovery plan with all those suffering needlessly from back and neck pain. In addition to conducting seminars and workshops for the University of California, CIGNA, and other organizations, I wrote Rapid Recovery from Back and Pain: A Nine-Step Recovery Plan which provides crucial research on back and neck pain and many cases of rapid recovery as well as a section for designing a personal rapid recovery plan. Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain is availabe at Amazon.com.
About this product: About 50 million Americans suffer back pain every year, and chronic back pain disables 1 in 40 adults. Back Sense takes a different approach, contending that most chronic back pain is caused not by a damaged spine, but by stress, muscle tension, and inactivity. The aim is to help you reclaim your life and decrease your pain.
The spine might be damaged initially, but it usually heals on its own, the authors assert. After that, stress causes muscle tightness, which results in continued pain. Traditional treatments don't work because they treat the spine, not the stress. The solution: understand your own symptoms and pain, learn to resume full activity, and work with your negative emotions to prevent them from derailing your recuperation.
Part 1 of Back Sense helps you evaluate your own case and determine whether you have warning signs of a serious injury or disease (in which case you must get medical attention), understand the mind-body connection, and examine how stress may be causing your chronic pain. Part 2 teaches you how to bring full physical activity back into your life and manage your negative emotions.
The authors--two of whom relieved chronic back pain with this very program--do not want you to baby your body or limit your life to protect your back. Rather, they contend that "being careful actually appears to be harmful." They explain that "as long as you are trying to get rid of pain, you stay preoccupied with it," creating more tension, and by avoiding "risky" movements, you lose muscle conditioning, making you vulnerable to additional injury. The book takes you through a process of gradually incorporating more exercise and tracking your reactions. The style is simple and friendly, and the book has many plan charts, logs, and other helpful tools. --Joan Price
About this product: From the authors of Back Pain, an easy-to-use book offering yoga techniques to control back pain and sciatica. This book distinguishes the nine common causes of low back pain, teaches you how to identify them, and describes appropriate yoga poses to relieve each one of them. Loren M. Fishman, MD, is an internationally recognized expert in yoga and the clinical treatment of sciatica and low back pain. Here he helps you determine how to start your own yoga practice or alter your existing practice, depending on your physical condition and the cause of your particular pain. The postures, each one illustrated by a photograph, target specific sources of pain—from arthritis to sacroiliac joint derangement—and demonstrate how you can manage and ultimately end your pain. .
About this product: From a noted pioneer in sports medicine comes a breakthrough regimen for stopping back pain once and for all—without surgery.
Eighty-percent of Americans suffer some form of low-back pain—usually due to a herniated disk—but long-term relief is rarely achieved.
As a physician specializing in treating athletes, Dr. Vijay Vad has spent years researching how to cure back pain using medical yoga and Pilates. Profiled in The Wall Street Journal, his program requires just fifteen minutes a day for eight weeks to restore flexibility and prevent future injuries.
Offering a proven alternative to invasive surgery, Dr. Vad’s Back Rx provides the best of mind/body medicine by giving readers three step-by-step exercise series, demonstrated in 130 precise photographs, for implementing his popular program at home. Even readers with severely limited mobility will rejoice in Dr. Vad’s gentle introductory workout. Progressing through his self-paced program, they will discover a new range of exercises, breathing techniques, and tips for self-massage. For those who want to go even further and use this program for more than the treatment of a single injury, an advanced workout is included that puts readers on the road to peak performance.
The perfect combination of modern medicine, Pilates innovations, and ancient yoga postures, Back Rx builds important new fundamentals for lifelong freedom from pain.
About this product: Back Care Basics offers the low-cost solution for back care in the new millenium: therapeutic yoga. Dr. Schatz's approach to back rehabilitation is gentle, effective, and without drugs or surgery. Her program encourages both positive health practices and a positive outlook; the important tools needed for prevention and healing. Dr. Schatz has designed this program to help those with pain from chronic musculoskeletal back and neck strain, spinal arthritis, osteoporosis, premenstrual syndrome, pregnancy, and scoliosis. Simple and practical ways to heal the back, restructure the body, and cope with stress are taught so that one becomes more sensitive to early warning signs of an impending "back attack" and what to do to ward it off.
Explaining the impact of horseback riding on the human back in easy-to-understand terms, this guide illustrates how various movements in the saddle affect a rider's back and outlines straightforward steps that can be taken immediately to help keep riders ready to saddle up. Too many riders suffer from back injury, stress, or strain and consequently experience pain when in the saddle or are unable to ride at all. This indispensable guide has step-by-step exercises for strengthening the body for riding, guidance on horse selection and tack selection, and tips on which horse sports are appropriate for riders with various back problems. Traditional and alternative treatments for back pain are also discussed, as are the special considerations of pregnant and elderly riders.
About this product: Back pain is such a common condition that many doctors and researchers consider the complaint a normal part of life, similar to having an occasional cold or flu. If you are a back pain sufferer, you are not alone:
Back pain affects more than 80 percent of the population at some time during their lifetime.
Back pain is second only to the common cold as a reason for visits to the doctor and it is second only to childbirth as a reason for hospitalization.
Approximately 50 percent of the working population reports back problems every year.
The total medical cost of back pain exceeds 20 billion dollars a year in the United States.
Back Pain Remedies For Dummies takes a holistic approach to back pain prevention and treatment. Exploring the therapeutic options – from conventional medicine to popular alternative treatments – this patient-friendly guide gives you a heads-up on how to relieve pain now and avoid future injuries, plus
Boning up on your spinal column's pieces and parts
Uncovering some conditions that cause back pain
Examining the lineup of doctors who treat what ails your back
Taking your pain lying down – or not
Giving weight to alternative therapies, including yoga, acupuncture, and imagery exercises
Promoting the importance of good posture
Returning to work and play with a healthy outlook
Saying yes to sex after a back injury
As you try to manage your back pain problem and investigate various treatment approaches, you can help yourself by being assured and hopeful that you can remedy your problem. This reliable reference gives you plenty to reason to believe that back pain does get better, and successful treatment is possible. You can expect to find the best treatment for your back problem when you have some understanding of who treats back pain, how he or she treats it, and why using a multidisciplinary approach is important – all of that awaits in Back Pain Remedies For Dummies.
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