Healing Back Pain

Good one

Good book. I bought it for my husband and he seems to enjoy it.

腰痛の原因は単純なものではなく、ストレスや怒りが関係しているというのはよくわかるのですが、本当に整形外科的に腰痛になる人もやはり多いのではと感じました（自分も含めて）。もちろん痛みが精神状況に深く関係しているのは実感できますが、多くのケースで腰痛が精神的な理由が原因というのは納得できませんでした。ただ、医者など他人に依存して治すというのではなく、自分から主体的に治そう／治すと考える方向性は正しいと思います。自分も腰痛で悩みましたが、痛みを受け容れて、前向きに自分も治ると信じて努力することで、実際に痛みが緩和している現実があります。

Loved the info

Why do I give this book such high marks? Firstly, it absolutely was exactly what I needed at a time when I really didn't know if I would ever walk again properly due to a back injury I suffered while cycling. I actually walked away from that brush up but over the course of the next 2-3 weeks I was experiencing increasing levels of discomfort and pain in my lower back. I sought a specialist however this was very arduous in the condition I was in. Eventually an emergency physician prescribed oxycotin for the pain I was experiencing. After 3 pills, I stopped that. I was weary of the effects, of not feeling pain, of feeling so 'happy' when I knew bloody well I had a serious injury and should be taking it easy. Here's the thing, I learned that staying still, staying put was not at all good. You have to move around. However, you have to respect your injury and the limits it has imposed on you and work through that. A friend recommended I read this book to help me in my recovery. I believe I was already in the right frame of mind and this book only cemented my approach to recovery. Early on the pain was so bad I couldn't barely walk, I had extreme pain in my sciatic from a lower lumbar bulging disc (or something like that). I had a cane. It was quite a humbling experience. This book helped me keep my spirit up and determination to listen to my body, stay connected and accept the pain as I healed up and made a full recovery. It may not work for you, but the approach is the right one. Healing from back pain is not guaranteed. This book can help you make the best of your back pain, and in some cases, heal completely.

Years of back pain vanished and restored my ability to bend forward, be active and do the things i love doing - including swimming and running.

I have thought long and hard about writing this review as I know how it feels to spend hours trawling through the internet searching for a cure for crippling pain, and knowing how much information is out there, I have hesitated to add to it. But my sincere wish is that this post will give someone else the courage and confidence to take a chance with this book. My story: I, like many people, have suffered with back problems all my life - I'm now 43 - and had accepted that frequent bouts of pain, my back 'going' and regular trips to a much trusted and respected osteopath were just part of life. And that was fine. Until I had a really bad and prolonged bout of pain that started in Autumn 2013. I'd had 'disc issues' in the past but my pain had ALWAYS been on the left side. One morning I woke up with real soreness in my right lower back. Slightly perplexed but not unduly alarmed I went to see my osteo as usual and expected everything to be fixed in a week or two. However, It didn't get better - in fact it got progressively worse. I started to worry that it would turn into the sort of pain that I had experienced a couple of years earlier. I was told then by my osteopath that I had injured a disc. The pain at the time was excruciating, but after treatments and several weeks of rest it did get better. Well this time my pain got worse and seemed to be evolving. It had started in the back but three months later was moving to my leg and becoming far more intense. Standing and walking became very difficult, making my long commute to work on the tube a nightmare. Losing faith in my osteopath I saw other physiotherapists and tried acupuncture - all to no effect, other than to be told repeatedly that my back 'was a mess' and I could expect pain on and off all my life. Finally in desperation I went to my GP who ordered an MRI. This showed various bulges and degeneration but most worryingly, an extruded disc (where the inner material has leaked out) and this was pressing on a nerve. My GP explained all this with patience and told me that if conventional treatment didn't work, I would have to consider injections or, down the road, surgery. The pain got even worse. Then, one day I stumbled across an article about the comedian Howard Stern and his battle against pain. He seemed to have found a miracle cure in the shape of a treatment by Dr John Sarno. By this time, I was endlessly searching the internet and becoming an expert on all things disc related. Thinking more information could only be good I bought the book. I read it within 48 hours - it was the Easter holiday and I was spending most of my time horizontal anyway. After the initial excitement that I might be one of the blessed ones who start to feel the pain evaporate as they read, I had to confess that although I liked the idea, and wanted it to be true, my pain was still there. Also I had an MRI, a GP and a host of other back pain specialists telling me it was a physical problem. To cut a long story short, I suffered on for another few months, until one day I just suddenly decided that I would suspend my disbelief and - as wholeheartedly as I could manage - do some of the exercises recommended by Sarno. I even wrote the date down in my diary 'first day of TMS'. I didn't by this stage hold out much hope, but I was willing finally to give it a go. So I started writing in a journal and doing the daily reminders. I also saw a therapist to talk about emotional stuff but completely abandoned all back treatments and exercises. Within a week I was 75% better. A few weeks later I was pretty much back to normal - although I was still taking paracetamol regularly - but now at least it made a difference to the pain. A few months later and the pain was basically non-existent and any residual pain would vanish if I simply ignored it. So it did work for me. It wasn't immediate and it took a lot of soul searching to really commit to the idea. But once I did, it worked. Now I read a lot of reviews that say this approach may work for 'unexplained' pain (i.e. you don't have a real, physical problem.) But I had the worst form of slipped disc and I got better pretty damn fast once I got my head around the concept that a slipped disc might not be causing the kind of pain I was in. I have a great deal of respect for those who have tried this book and not found it to be useful, but I do believe that the premise of the book is correct and that, once you have been cleared of any disease or immune disorder etc.. the cause of ongoing and chronic pain is emotional, not physical. So my advice, in a nutshell, would be: Go to a professional and get an opinion, an MRI if necessary, if there is any lingering concern that the pain is caused by disease. Then, once you have the all clear for anything truly serious, buy this book and read it. Not once but many times. Let it sink in. Then practise the exercises and daily reminders religiously. Don't give up after a few days if things aren't improving. Work at it. I cannot guarantee I will never have back pain again, but I'm pretty sure I now know what lies behind it. Like many thousands of other people I am incredibly grateful to John Sarno for this . I wish you luck.