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Summary: I have my life back. It flatworks.com
Review: I was flat on my back, ice pads, couldn't care for myself, couldn't walk, for weeks, then somewhat I could walk, but I couldn't lift,run,exercise, pick up the remote control off the floor, I was in bad shape, I was thinking of my life like this, it lasted for months.Don't believe the sicknesscare professionals that write their reviews, you know, the doctors that scare you with thier bone skeletons and xrays and gloomy forecast for your postural future. They are lieing their way to the bank. Don't believe the physical therapist who want to whirl and wind you and even electric shock you and "we'll see you next week", oh yea, they would like to see you next week for the rest of your painful life. Their whole worlds are proven invalid by any one who will read this book. You want your life back,they want you under their care! This book flat cured me in two days. For fifteen bucks Im better, I would have spent 25K to have my life back. Two days Im better, I surfed in hurricane Floyd free of pain, I did squats yesterday for the first time since June, when the attack occured. This book gave me my life back, thank you Dr. Sarno, you got a home here whenever, thank you Larry King for the guts to air it, thank you Howard Stern for making me beleive it wasn't bogus, and thanks be to God for the wonderful mind we have and the discovery he chose to bless us with in our time.
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Summary: Im back kickboxing after two days of completing the book.
Review: I went down in what was diagnosed as disc problems, couldn't walk for days, months went by, couldn't train, work out, surf, anything. I saw Larry King, I bought the book, with an open mind I read it, I did it, 24 hours later I could kick over my head, four days complete healing, TMS and amazing discovery, the guy deserves a statue. I wonder what else we can do with our mind.
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Summary: Overcoming fear when rehabbing.
Review: I have had 2 surgeries to repair ruptured disc L5/S1. While rehabbing after my second surgery, an in-law bought this book for me at a yard sale. Since I was not rehabbing as fast as I thought I should have been, I gave the book a read to try to find something that I could benefit from. While it was too late for me to avoid surgery, Dr. Sarno did present one idea which has really benefitted me. That is, that fear of recurrence or reinjury often makes people prisoners of their perceived limitations. I saw myself in this, and worked within moderate limits to expand my range and duration of physical activities. While I still am not 100%, my progress has been much more rewarding after keeping Dr. Sarno's advice in mind. This has improved my outlook to a very positive one, which also helps, I'm sure.
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Summary: It worked for me : 4 years of chronic pain gone!
Review: Coming from an Engineering background, I was skeptical and incredulous at Dr. Sarno's theory: that repressed emotions were to blame for my back pain. It turns out that he is %100 correct in my case - my pain is gone after following the treatment he proposed. This is after 4 years of doing absolutely EVERYTHING imaginable to try to treat my back pain. I can only speak for my results, but looking at all the other reviews it is obvious I'm not the only one he's helped with his book.
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Summary: A golfers helper
Review: Golfers suffer a lot from back pain. This book gets to the core as we all get mad on the course at some time or another. I also have followed recommendations for nutritive support at the same time as outlined in another book, Nutritional Leverage for Great Golf. They also deal with emotion and back pain. Both books are great.
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Summary: Worth reading if you are willing to believe in it
Review: When I first read about this book, I was skeptical. There was no way that more sore lower back was going to by cured by admitting that I had stress and feelings that I had to come to grips with. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I had been diagnosed with a partially slipped disc in the lower back which had caused leg pain and back pain. I had also been diagnosed with Acid Reflux Disease. Basically, I was told that I had to watch my diet and that I should stop playing sports such as basketball and softball for the rest of my life if I wanted to avoid complications and problems. All this at age 29. I picked up the book and read it, and bought into it, suspending disbelief, telling myself to deal with my stresses and issues. And since reading it, my back pain has almost completely vanished, as has my gastrointestinal problems (I was popping several Gaviscon tablets a night, and since reading the book two months ago, I haven't taken a single pill.) I perceive that stress on the job and home, stress caused by fear of the pain in my back, and stress regarding the ARD were all piling up, adding to each other and causing an almost debilitating malady. I don't know if the book solved all the problems, and I still believe that one should stay in shape and exercise, but I believe that the book did have a positive effect on me. The symptoms and problems were tangible and real. They were not phantoms made up by my mind, but they were caused by issues within my mind. My pain and discomfort is gone, and that is something that no doctor had been able to do for me. If you are willing to give this an honest shot, to read it and cast aside your disbelief, this book could work for you. If you think that this is all a load of BS, then don't bother reading it until you get desperate enough with your back pain that you are willing to try anything to make it go away.
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Summary: Unlikely to be helpful for most chronic pain sufferers.
Review: This book's main ideas can be summarized in two sentences: Most painful conditions have repressed anger at their base. If you recognize the underlying anger or other repressed emotion, the pain will go away. Like the author, I am a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and I see mostly pain patients. And while I think is is true that in a few cases the pain is related to emotional issues that have not been adequately addressed, and while it is undeniable that there is an emotional component to pain, most pain patients will not be helped by this simplistic approach. The author paints with a broad brush: disc problems, spinal stenosis, tendinitis, bursitis, facet disease, radiculopathy - all are primarily related to ischemia (lack of oxygen) which is related to autonomic nervous system activity which is related to emotion. The whole approach is loosely based on Sigmund Freud's work, and the author refers to Freud a lot - but instead of years of psychoanalysis, 95% of selected patients can cure their pain problem (or hypertension, ulcer disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer) by just attending two lectures, or reading this author's book. Oh, come on! Unless you accept psychoanalytic theory, which has resisted the most tortuous attempts at experimental confirmation, and unless you clearly recognize some underlying emotional concern as related to your painful condition, I think you would be better served by seeing a boarded pain specialist, or, if you wish more information, to consult one of the many excellent health encyclopedias - Mayo Clinic's and Columbia's come immediately to mind - on back pain. And please - don't stop stretching and strengthening your back muscles, and keep using good body mechanics!
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Summary: TMS is a plague - Sarno has the vaccine
Review: Within one week of trumpeting success over life's primary goals (I'm 53 yo), and at not having ever suffered, physically...you guessed it, I fell to chronic back pain... prophetic, Sarno would suggest .After a year of the medical go- around, including prolotherapy, I (skeptic) went to a spiritual healing medium who said I would find what I needed in a 'library". My wife came across Sarno's book while browsing two weeks later! The book got me out of depression and offered hope. I improved significantly in two weeks and I am now working with a therapist. I have a new insight into myself. I have also read Caroline Myss et al and have ordered Dr Goliszek's 60 second stress management book at the suggestion of another reviewer. I am a convert to the spiritual, the power of the subconscious, and self acceptance. Now for the tinnitus, bum knee and sore feet! Happy to hear from fellow exponents.
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Summary: I got my life back through this book
Review: Just to put simply, Dr.Sarno's method works, if you work on it. I had serious backpain, stomach upset(close to ulcer), neck pain, frequent headache, eye irritation, and frequent pain legs. I had all this problem for almost 7-10 years. I was in my twenties, when I had all these problems. I went to various doctors and all of them mensioned that I have serious mussle problem, my stomach is not in the right size, etc. Three Years back, friend of mine offered this book for free. Being an engineering background, I was seriously investigating this book. Initially, I did not believe anything in this book. As Dr.Sarno clearly put it "One of the unfortunate realities about working with a disorder like TMS is that most people will reject the idea until they are desperate for a solution" After 10 years of no relief, I guess, I was desparately looking for a solution. Believe it ot not, all above mentioned pains vanished within a month. I was deligently following everything Dr.Sarno mentioned in this book. First two weeks, the pain got worser and worser. 3-rd week I got a real relief with my stomach upset. From 4-th week onwards, all my Back & neck pain completely vanished. It's almost 3 years since, I had any pain. I remember those times, when I feel unbearable pain and crying internally for help. Don't treat this book as a ordinary one. If you are undergoing unbearble pain, this book might change your destiny. Give it a shot. Buy or borrow from library or friends. It is worth reading..... I have never met Dr.Sarno, but every day I say thanks GOD for reading Dr.Sarno's book that changed my destiny for ever.
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Summary: Valid, but leaves out the body to mind connection.
Review: While I agree with the importance of the mind and emotions in influencing our health and well being, I think it is also important to remember the corollary. If the body is in need of attention, healing, repair, then treat the body! That may require help from someone outside ourselves. Often, if the body is re-set, so to speak, the mind follows suit. That's often as true as the mind being primary. So, don't get discouraged if Dr. Sarno's method doesn't work for you. Think also: Free the body of its stresses, which frees the mind, which helps the body. Sometimes you have to approach the problem from a different point on the loop.
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