Rating: 
Summary: What's Next?!
Review: Sarno's book helped me understand the cause of my back pain, but I was left with no clear steps to take to get rid of the pain. Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain gave me the information and steps I needed to get rid of the pain for good. It would be nice if somehow the two books could be integrated to make it easier for the readers to get all the information they need in one book!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting premise that might work for some
Review: A friend recently told me he solved his back problems by listening
to the taped version of HEALING BACK PAIN: THE MIND-BODY
CONNECTION, written and read by Dr. John E. Sarno . . . so
after he lent it to me, I decided to give it a try.The premise is interesting; i.e., that you can overcome back
problems without drugs or dangerous therapy . . . however, I'm
not sure that I bought into all that Sarno has to say
on the subject . . . his contention is that many people
who are kept from living a full life suffer from something known
as TMS (Tension Myostis Syndrome) . . . and that this condition
is primarily brought about by emotional conditions, including
anxiety and repressed anger. 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. My major disappointment in the book was that it lacked
specifics . . . I would have wanted to hear more details . . . however,
if you buy into this theory and if it helps you, that's super . . . I know
of at least one other person who actually met with Sarno and swears
that the results are nothing short of amazing.
Rating: 
Summary: Substantially Pain Free for Four Years
Review: I have been substantially free of back pain for over four years because of Dr. Sarno's amazing discovery! Like others, I ordered Healing Back Pain after seeing Dr. Sarno's interview with John Stossel in March of 1999. It's now May, 2003 and Dr. Sarno's book has done what it claims. Yes, it sounds stupid, but that's only because science is so profoundly ignorant of the inner workings of the human mind. Skeptics attribute the many positive testimonies about this book to the placebo effect, but if they believe the mind can overcome real physical pain, why do they have such a problem believing the mind can also cause real physical pain?
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable!
Review: List me as one of those who began feeling better while reading the book. I've been battling lower back pain as well as sciatic pain in my right leg for a year and a half. I've tried chiropractors, massage therapy, orthopedic m.d.'s and physical therapy. Admittedly, I am a LOT more flexible now with all of the stretching excercises. But, not until I read this book did the pain subside. That is simply astonishing. And, it's only getting better. Dr. Sarno accurately described my history of symptoms. And, his methods for recovery have worked. If you have chronic pain, back or otherwise, this book may offer you an unbelievable answer.
Rating:
Summary: It works!
Review: I was a bit skeptical when my counselor suggested this book, but after trying Dr. Sarno's treatment, I found it really works. I used to feel like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, because I had such pain. It is now virtually gone!
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: This book saved my life! For five and half years I suffered from back and leg pain. I tried everything under the Sun and the Moon! Nothing worked, until a friend told me about Healing Back Pain. It worked like magic. It's been six months and I am doing great. Don't wait another day. Get it today. If you have read it and need additional help get Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain and Back Sense. These two books also can give you valuable information. Don't wait for the doctors to cure you. Take charge of your health.
Rating:
Summary: Mind-Body Healing
Review: I would highly recommend this book to any back pain sufferer (or other pain, too). As a practicing doctor of chiropractic for the past 20+ years, I have seen every cause of back pain there is. I have also used a mind-body healing technique for the past 12+ years in my practice, and I can say without any doubt that everybody has at least SOME mind (stress, emotion, memory) connection to their condition. Once this is removed (or reduced), healing can occur much more rapidly. I have used very similiar techniques as Doctor Sarno, with greaat results! I give his book to many of my patients for another approach to healing and also get very good results from them just reading and applying the concepts.
Rating:
Summary: For back pain sufferers...The best [$] you'll ever spend
Review: Dispels the myths about your "fragile" back and exposes the mental reasons for the physical pain you're suffering. Stop doing silly exercises and worrying about babying your back. Get to the root of the problem and get real relief FOR LIFE. Sound too good to be true? It is if you lack insight. But if you know yourself and can be honest with yourself you're halfway there already.
Rating:
Summary: Get checked out by a doc - and read this book
Review: I suffered from excruciating back pain for three months last year. My doctor ordered a large number of tests, including MRI, x-ray, and blood and neurological workups, but no organic cause for my pain was found. I went to physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, and obtained some relief, but it was always temporary. I was taking increasing doses of narcotic painkillers and desperate to find some cause (and presumably then a cure) for the pain. A friend recommended this book, and since I read it, I have gradually recognized the psychogenic nature of my back pain, and begun to deal with it. The pain is not in your head - it's in your muscles. But your head is directly involved, and this book shows you how to begin recognizing it. While it is unrealistic to expect an instant cure as some readers experience, since reading the book I have experienced a remarkable reduction of pain and have been able to resume healthy exercise and stop taking pain killers most of the time. The greatest gift of this book was that it forced me to become more precise about and aware of my emotions at a time when I was under quite a bit of stress. My back is my barometer of unresolved stress. No one should "self-diagnose" serious back pain. Do get checked out by a traditional physician to rule out serious problems like tumors or cancer. But if you're under quite a bit of stress (and who isn't) and you suffer from back pain, fibromyalgia, allergies, or other kinds of stress-related illnesses, give this book a try. At [the cost], it's a tenth of the price of an office visit (and only as much as a co-payment at my HMO). You may launch yourself on a voyage of discovery that makes you happier and releases you from pain. If it doesn't work for you, I send you my best wishes anyway for freedom from pain.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful but not the end-all
Review: I found several aspects of this book to be helpful in understanding the constant pain in my upper back and neck, but reading the book did not cure the pain as Sarno suggests that it should. The book did allow me to discard the theory advanced by the doctor I consulted a couple of years ago when I began to have nerve pain down my left arm and numbness in my left thumb: that the pain is somehow a result of the small amount of calcification and disc compression visible in an x-ray taken of my spine. (Incidentally, that doctor basically told me that I could only expect the condition to worsen over time, when in fact the nerve pain did dissipate on its own within a couple of months.) The book also allowed me to discard my own theory that the pain is somehow related to a mild scoliosis of my lumbar spine. And since reading the book I have increased the number of days a week I work out at the gym and have stopped worrying that it might be aggravating the situation. Sarno's contention that just knowing that the pain is the result of repressed anxiety and/or anger will cause it to go away hasn't yet been borne out in my experience, and neither have I been helped by an array of therapies from Rolfing to craniosacral work to Hellerwork to Hanna somatics to Feldenkrais to chiropractic. As a 50-year-old highly sensitive woman, I would like to know how to relax when life just keeps coming at me. I find some of the exercises prescribed in PAIN FREE by Pete Egoscue to be of some help in correcting my posture, and I find that some yoga poses feel good at least for the moment, but I'd sure like to find the key to unlock my tight muscles once and for all. Next I'll read HEALING BACK PAIN NATURALLY by Art Brownstein.
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