[.ca] Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection (ISBN 1559279958)

From Amazon.com:
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

Healing Back Pain by Sarno:
This book links the mind and pain sensations to the gastrointestinal tract. There is an association between the pain signals and the gastrointestinal tract; however, the curative result is in controlling inflammation. The author provides a good analysis of peripheral nerve involvement in the management of pain. Specific coping strategies are cited, as well as testimonials in the form of numerous letters from satisfied followers and adherents. The author cites Vitamin C in megadoses as a preferred treatment option. He relates pain to specific anger as an undercurrent which magnifies the pain sensations in proportion to the degree of anger/resentment present. The author describes the oxygen deprivation in muscles and specific trigger points for pain. These ideas complement existing knowledge in conventional medicine,as well as known oxygen therapies in Europe.

This Works and Should Be Required Reading:
Several years ago I was off work for nine months because of what the doctors diagnosed as repetitive motion and then disc problems. AFTER major sugery, when they told me I'd be out of work and in excruciating pain the rest of my life, I found this book--it was next to one of those "how to live with excruciating pain" books. Within two hours of starting to read Dr. Sarno's Healing Back Pain I could turn my neck. Within two weeks the pain was completely gone, and I've been a ball of fire since. I wish I could thank him in person. Buy this book, if you can, do it before you commit to major surgery.

The book that changed my life.:
I started having back pains at 18 years old! During my 20s I tried everything an old lady is used too; sleeping on the floor, ice packs, warm baths, even medication and my life was starting to orbit around my back condition. During my 30s I ended up in the hospital 3 times due to paralysing back pain. X-Rays and CAT scans showed a non-perfect spine but not enough to justify 2 decades or suffering. One day I was watching CNN and Larry King was talking to a Dr. John Sarno and discussing this new book about back pain... I heard it all and decided to buy the book. Well, the rest is history, I can have a normal life again and I never ended up in the hospital again. Now and then when I'm more stressed I have a little back pain and my husband jokingly calls it "having a case of Sarno"! I just relax and it goes away in a couple of hours. I recommend the book to new friends all the time and many come back with a smile saying the same; that the book changed their lives. Thank you Dr. Sarno!

Great:
This book was very hepful to me for understanding just how important the mind and pain are connected to each other. While going in and out of pain for years, no one could truly explain why to me- this book did.I highly recomend for exercises- The Backsmart Fitness Plan by Dr.Adam Weiss- an excellent source with over 100 exercises and photos in detail from stretches to weight training and core exercises to help tone and shape your body without suffering from pain. Both books have helped me alot.

This book will change your painful life. Drugs are not the answer - this book is!:
This book is fantastic. If you are a skeptic, you need to read this book. If you are in chronic pain, you need to read this book. If you have been let down by the medical industry or "milked" by holistic practitioners, you NEED to read this book. I am a practicing Hypnotherapist who has healed himself using this book, many of my Toronto area clients have been helped tremendously by my incorporation of this book into my practice of pain control and elimination. My personal experience with this book and Dr.Sarno's other books have become the cornerstone for my "Helping Hand Hypnosis" strategy of defeating chronic pain and TMS manifestations such as Tinitus, Carpul Tunnel Syndrome, Tendinitis etc. Everyone experiences some form of mindbody disorder in their life at sometime, be it headache, stomache ache, "nerves", allergies or harmless, transient symptoms like blushing. Until the medical community can explain the mechanics of blushing, don't be so eager to dispell the information in this insightful and marvellous book. Your doctor is missing the picture, as is your chiropractor, physiotherapist etc. DRUGS ARE NOT THE ANSWER!! THis book is!! Buy it, read it again and again. YOU WILL BE PAIN FREE-it just takes understanding and a little effort on your part. Anyone giving this book a poor review is ignorant in the most harmless sense of the word. Everyone I have recommended this book to or seen as a Helping Hand Hypnosis Hypnotherapy client HAS MADE DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENTS. This is no placebo, (unlike passive therapies) - this is the answer. Buy this book, invest in your total relief from Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Migraines, Reflux etc etc. Sound too good to be true? Read it and be liberated.