Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection | 
 enlarge | Author: John E. Sarno
Publisher: Warner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $13.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  350 reviews
Sales Rank: 889
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0446392308
Dewey Decimal Number: 617.564
EAN: 9780446392303
ASIN: 0446392308
Publication Date: February 1, 1991
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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
Product Description
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
Download Description
Dr. John E. Sarno, author of the revolutionary book Mind Over Back Pain, is a medical pioneer whose program has helped thousands of patients overcome their back conditions--without drugs or dangerous surgery. Now, using his latest research into TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome), Dr. Sarno goes one step further: after identifying stress and other psychological factors in back pain, he demonstrates how many of his patients have then gone on to heal themselves without exercise or other physical therapy. Find out: Why self motivated and successful people are prone to TMS How anxiety and repressed anger trigger muscle spasms How people "train themselves" to experience back pain How you may get relief from back pain How you may get relief from back pain within two to six weeks by recognizing TMS and its causes With case histories and the results of in-depth mind-body research, Dr. Sarno describes how patients recognize the emotional roots of their TMS and sever the connections between mental and physical pain and how, just by reading this book, you may start recovering from back pain today.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 345 more reviews...
 another voice in the healed masses July 1, 2008
This review will be quite short because so many folks have echoed my own experiences with Dr. Sarno's work... I just want to add my voice and enthusiasm about this book. I could not possible praise it's simplicity and effectiveness enough. If you are reading this, just buy the book - it's so very cheap and please, please believe me, it is worth your time.
Five Stars is not enough! June 7, 2008
This review is long overdue, but after recovering from 10 years of back pain, I've been having too much fun to write in (dancing, scuba, travel, bicycling, swimming). I've read a lot of books, but this by far is the most important. If you have any kind of chronic health problems, this is your best chance of recovery.It's no exaggeration when I say that Dr. Sarno saved my life with his groundbreaking theory.
I suffered with 10 years of chronic pain, muscle spasm, tingling in my neck, upper back and arms. I tried many treatments, both traditional and alternative. Cervical traction, chiropractic, massage, myotherapy, trigger point release, physical therapy, cervical collar, medications, acupuncture, homeopathy. I even had surgery on one of my shoulders for a supposed shoulder impingement. Some of the treatments gave short term relief only. The surgery did nothing to help. I spent years searching for an answer, and thousands of dollars out of pocket. I had testing and the diagnoses I received were bulging discs and degenerative disc disease (sound scary dont they?). I was offered no hope of a cure. I was 40 at the time, yet physically felt like I was 90 due to the pain. I had no hope for my future because if I had a degenerative process, it would only get worse. My pain went from a low level annoyance to becoming debilitating.I had pain every day, all day I struggled to care for my children and home. I felt like a failure as a mother and wife, and became depressed about my situation. At times, I wondered how I could go on as I feared continued worsening of my condition. But no matter how much pain I was in, I knew I could not take my life and inflict that kind of pain on my children.
Then a miracle, in the form of Dr. Sarno's Healing Back Pain book. Being a medical professional, I was skeptical as I began to read the claims of relief without surgery, PT, or specific treatments. I decided, I had nothing to lose by reading the book except a couple of hours of my time.
I found myself on every page of his book. I felt he knew me despite never having met me. He was telling my story. I literally wept as I read the book and found a glimmer of hope. I began to improve slowly and continued to read and re-read, began a gradual return to activites, as well as starting to journal about emotional issues and feelings. As I applied his theory to my life, I continued to improve both physically and emotionally. Amazingly, I'm still doing great 8 years later.
I don't want to mislead anyone. I did not have an instantaneous resolution of my symptoms (although I now know people who have). It has been a process of healing and self discovery for me, but well worth it. I have had occasional episodes of some discomfort over the years (during stressful times) but now I know how to address it and can make it go away pretty easily. The most important thing is that it has never been as bad as it was at it's worst, and most of the time I have no pain at all. I no longer have fear and I know that I am healthy and strong. I have no limitations in what I can do. I have proven that to myself over and over again in the past 8 years since recovering using Dr. Sarno's information. Probably the most physical things I have been able to do is that I painted an entire house, took a dance class, learned scuba and just last year I rode a bicycle 110 miles in a day (having trained for it in only 3 weeks).
I realize these claims may seem hard to believe. Had I not experienced it personally, I'm not sure how I would feel about it. But I'm here to say that my life has been forever changed and enriched by learning about this incredible mind-body connection. If you are looking for someone else to fix you, then this is probably not the book for you. But if you're tired of being in pain, have an open mind, and are willing to do the work, then this information can change your life. I wish you health and peace.
I would like to share a Galileo quote that I found, which speaks to me regarding Dr. Sarno's work: "In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual."
Words can not express my heartfelt gratitude. Thank you Dr. John Sarno!
 Suspect Theory -- No Practice Described May 31, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
READING IT DID NOTHING FOR MY BACK PAIN
I'm perplexed that so many say, "all I did was read this book and I was healed from years of back pain." I read it, and it didn't change a thing. And there is no description of the actual method, except for what boils down to: "If you're in pain, ask yourself what you're angry about and you will be healed."
SIMPLISTIC MIND-BODY CONNECTION THEORIZING
Sarno's approach is simplistic, although he does offer biophysical knowledge about how stress affects the body. He derives his theory from Freud's notion of conversion reaction--that the unconscious transfers unpleasant feelings into physical symptoms. The logical corollary: if you become aware of your inner feelings, the body will release the pain.
MIND OVER MATTER? DO NO HARM?
The relationship of mind, body, emotions, and spiritual states is a complex dance. Sarno's "mind over matter" approach does a disservice to conventional and alternative healing modalities that have proven effective for back pain. He suggests that you continue your active lifestyle, discontinue all other treatments (e.g., chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture, stretching, surgery), and essentially, act as though the pain isn't there. In his view, those treatments alleviate, they don't heal.
This concerns me because 1] with extreme back pain, you can't continue your usual activities, and 2] if you try to do so, you could cause worsen the injury.
Finally, this book is repetitive. He could have made his point with 1/2 the number of words.
CAVEAT
I gave it 2 stars because understanding your emotions and biopsychological process supports healing. I suspect a strong placebo effect coupled with emotional release worded for a lucky few with pain that was mostly stress-related.
Yes, be in touch with how your feelings connect with your physical states, but take care. Treat your body with respect. It is a tough little plant that may occasionally get bruised and need very gentle, deep healing; it's not an untamed wild thing over which you must gain dominion.
I was a sceptic, but definitely changed my mind May 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book, along with "Healing Back Pain Naturally" by Art Brownstein, M.D., after suffering from pain in the back, groin, abdomen and knee for some months. I skimmed over Dr. Sarno's book, but was sure that it didn't apply to me. MY pain was REAL, not something psychologically induced! So I launched into Dr. Brownstein's book, and, being sports-oriented, did many of his exercises for the back. I also had all the MRI's and x-rays done, all of which showed no physical problems at all.
After 8 months of sporadic improvement and setbacks, with their accompanying depression, I once again peeked into "Healing Back Pain," and suddenly, it all made perfect sense to me. I was able to perfectly correlate events that had been particularly upsetting to me with bouts of pain. Incredibly, just reading this and accepting it immediately made me feel much better.
I now scold any pains that pop up from now and then, reminding them that they're just a trick and not really physically based. They then slink off into the netherlands, where they belong. I intend to re-read Dr. Sarno's book from time to time, to try to avoid repressing anger and anxiety as I tend to do, and to review the daily reminders that he recommends.
My advice to you is to be open-minded and read this book, if you have had pain for some time. It really does make sense and it really does help.
Excellent book!!! May 14, 2008
This book changed my life forever as well as the way I look at pain in all forms. I suffered from many different TMS imperatives throuout my life and Dr. Sarno has lead me out of those dark places. I wrote a book about my journey through TMS and I hope it helps many people as well.
Kevin Jarvis
kevinrobertjarvis.com
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