Customer Reviews

Back Sense: A Revolutionary Approach to Halting the Cycle of Chronic Back Pain

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have had mild to moderate, with occasional severe, back pain for many years. Generally, the pain started when I was in graduate school. I thought that the long hours of sitting in class, reading and studying was damaging my "weak" back.

After reading this book, I started to realize how much stress was a major factor in my back pain. Just before I read the book I was visiting my chiropractor every week and getting a massage a couple times a month. I loved the treatments, but I was getting increasingly concerned that I had a serious problem with my back that was going to disable me, sooner, rather than later.

After finishing Backsense, I have stopped stressing about every twinge, tight muscle or pain in my back---and the pain has been much less and less frequent! I now enjoy my gym activities and play time with my children, knowing that my back is strong and healthy.

Backsense gave me a better understanding and confidence in the strength and durability of my back. It was easy to read and understand. Anyone searching for relief from back pain should read this book.

I was a skeptic. After many years of spending thousands of dollars and countless hours with medical doctors and chiropractors, I could not believe that changing the way I thought about my pain could help me conquer the crippling spasms that had wracked my life for nearly 20 years. I had tried special exercises, surgical consults, CAT scans, and powerful medications- nothing could take away those episodes that left me in agony, tilting to one side as if severely wounded. These spasms attacked me repeatedly, leaving me incapacitated for weeks and months.

What I discovered through the Back Sense approach, was that the cure lay in three areas: The first, and most important, is the awareness that I should not fear the pain as something that was about to cripple me as it had done in the past. Nor should I react by favoring my back or avoiding normal activities that I worried might have strained it in the past. Finally, root causes of the pain invariably were in how I managed my own feelings, especially stress, worry, and sometimes anger.

I am now free of spasms, and no longer worry about my back. I urge you to read this book.

After a fall, I suffered from chronic leg pain for a period of 20 months before finding this book. For 20 months I spent countless hours seeing doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, message therapists, and other health practitioners, including acupuncture. I was desperate to get well. I had made progress, but I still felt it very difficult to walk or move normally--I was still in essence "crippled," and I feared my life might never been normal again. Then I found this remarkable book. In the period of time it took me to read the first few chapters, I knew what the authors were suggesting would work for me. I was able to immediately implement the principles. I got up from where I was reading and began to walk completely normally for the first time in over a year and a half. Soon thereafter, I found myself bounding up stairs and skipping with joy. Three months later, I'm still doing great. I'm so happy to be "Free At Last!" If you suffer from chronic back, neck, or leg pain, I urge you to read this book. It may not have the same effect on you, but you have nothing to lose but your pain!

When it seemed that nobody had any answers for me, I found them in this book. For close to a year I had been experiencing debilitating back and hip pain. I am a very active person, and in addition to suffering from the constant pain, I was beginning to become severely depressed as the level of my physical activity decreased. The book was able to provide answers to my questions as to what was happening to me, and also provide a method for reducing the pain and learning to deal with the causes. Neither of which had been forthcoming from doctors or physical therapists.

The book was easy to read and very simply laid out. The reasoning behind their recommendations appeared to be based on good science, and the scientific references that they provided added to the credibility of the statements. I also liked the fact that they emphasized the need for going through the usual diagnostic tests. The authors are then able to provide reasons for the pain and ways to work to reduce the pain and "get your life back". Most specialists will admit that surgery for a herniated disc will not reduce the pain. However, it seems that many doctors can provide their patients with no further direction or assistance.

The book made so much sense - and it has turned my life around. I would recommend it for anyone who has chronic back pain (or for that matter, any muscular/nerve-based pain). The same philosophy could be applied to any part of the body. I rate this book very highly

I know as hard as it is to believe most back and neck pain is the result of simple muscle tension caused by stress. The authors of "Back Sense" do a great job of explaining this fact and back up their claims with research and logic.
If you think your pain is too severe or long lasting to be caused by stress think again. This condition can be ungodly painful. Also if you have been told you have some physical abnormality that is causing your pain, such as a disc problem or arthritis you may be less likely to accept that stress is the real culprit. The authors explain how physical abnormalities of the spine are quite common in asymptomatic patients and may be falsely blamed as the cause of your pain. If your problem started as a result of some sort of accident it can also develop into tension pain. After all a strain or sprain should heal quickly in a few weeks. This is also explained by the authors. In my experience, as 20 years as a physical therapist, the vast majority of back and neck pain is a result of muscle tension caused by stress.
The authors go on to explain how to stop this cycle of muscle tension by changing the way you think about the problem. They explain how a belief in a damaged spine is sabotaging your efforts to be painfree. I know this all sounds too easy or ridiculous but there is mounds of research linking back pain with stress. The authors will also help you understand why most doctors and therapists are clueless to this problem.
I recommend this book to most of my patients suffering back and neck pain. Please give it a try it could be the answer you've been searching for.

I encourage people with back problems to read and take to heart the contents of this book. The three authors bring different perspectives to the issue--psychological, emotional, physical--and in my judgment they have given a tremendous gift to the public.

The book assumes some of the same principles that John Sarno does in his work (in fact, Siegel had been one of Sarno's patients), but their book is more of a self-help manual that speaks directly to the sufferer. (I've also read Sarno's books, and, though valuable, I think Back Sense is a better book.)

The book saved me from much suffering. It helped me to realize (both consciously and emotionally) that my own back pain was not structural but muscular--the result of stress and negativity. Back Sense then takes readers step by step through ways of regarding their pain, of dealing with it through exercise, and ultimately of conquering it. This can be a long process (it took me over a year), but the authors don't promise quick panaceas or the immediate cessation of pain (as Sarno does).

The only element in the book that I would improve would be the exercise sections. I took the advice of the authors and exercised despite the pain, but it wasn't until I began to do yoga that the pain stopped. My guess is that in future editions of the book that the authors will add many more stretching exercises to the pain reduction regimen.

In all, I cannot say enough positive about this book. I only wish that the contents of it could be spread around more so that many other back sufferers could benefit from it.

Back Sense provides a clear explanation of why so many back treatments do not work and why the "treatments" can actually contribute to prolonging the problem. The book illustrates how powerful the mind and emotions are and how they affect (at least) a variety of muscular problems. A little more discussion of guidance for dealing with those emotions would have been helpful.

After going to a conference on Psychotherapy and Mindfulness given by Dr. Ron Siegel, I was inspired to get his book. Having developed back problems (muscle spasms/ "my back went out") a year and a half ago, I was very interested in learning about his approach. While regular yoga has been extraordinarily helpful, I still considered my back vulnerable. This book has challenged this mentality. Since reading this book, I have successfully resumed activities that have I been avoiding since developing back pain. I am more aware of how worrying about hurting my back has made me afraid to use my back in certain ways, and am no longer giving into this worry. This book has changed my mindset regarding back pain and my body. This approach is empowering and I strongly recommend that anyone with a history of back muscle spasms read this book and adopt this method.

After suffering for more than an year with chronic back pain and
being advised by a neurologist that I had an enlarged spinal disk
pressing on my sciatic nerve I ended up in an emergency room a
year later where the doctor prescribed a muscle relaxant and advised me to buy books in the book store on back pain. I still
have a sore back on rainy days but I can now lift up to forty
pounds and suffer from no sciatic pain at all. I rave about this
book to anyone who will listen.

I recently had to cut short a business trip due to extreme leg pain that lasted day and night. I went through the usual period of treatment by my GP with medications and rest before seeing a Surgeon. He recommended steroid shots and Chiropractric treatments. I found Back Sense and read it just after the shots. It confirmed what I had suspected for years. That my leg pain is directly related to stress. After reading and following the book I have had very good results. I recommend this book for anyone who has ever suffered from neck or back related pain.