Healing Back Pain Naturally: The Mind-Body Program Proven to Work [Paperback]

Art Brownstein (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 1, 2001

Dr. Art Brownstein suffered back pain for twenty agonizing years. Now he shares the cure that worked for him and thousands of others: his revolutionary Back to Life Program.

Sharing his own story of surgery, painkiller dependency, and severe depression, Dr. Brownstein guides you through the recovery program that gave him his life back. Today, he runs a medical practice, bikes, surfboards, teaches yoga, and leads an active life -- free of pain!

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

After abusing his back for years, Brownstein, a practicing physician, turned to conventional medicine for relief. Surgery did not reduce the pain and led to an ongoing use of strong painkillers. Frustrated, Brownstein embarked on his own self-healing journey. The knowledge he acquired from yoga, meditation, diet, relaxation, and deep breathing was channeled into a program he calls Back To Life. Unlike the quick fixes offered by conventional medicine, Brownstein's program works holistically and requires changing unhealthy life patterns. He introduces the reader to a stretching program and strengthening exercises (demonstrated in black-and-white photos), then covers stress management, nutrition, return to work, and the psycho-spiritual elements of recovery. This is a readable book, less blunt than John Sarno's groundbreaking Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection (Warner, 1991). Back pain sufferers disappointed by conventional approaches will want this. Recommended for consumer health collections.ALisa McCormick, Health Sciences Lib., Jewish Hosp., Cincinnati
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

How to improve back health through exercise, yoga-based stretches, and stress reductiona reasonable plan. Brownstein (a clinical instructor of medicine at the University of Hawaii, Manoa) suffered multiple injuries and severe back pain for 20 years; when traditional medicines and surgery failed to help, he found relief by creating a regimen drawing on yoga, meditation, and other alternative therapies. His program is sound, and his starting point valuablerather than looking for an initiating catastrophic injury as the basis for designing treatment, chronic back pain sufferers would do better to understand their acute event as the culmination of years of stress, poor body mechanics, and possible weight and nutrition problems. His second important point is that almost all back pain originates in the muscles (rather than bone or other structures). This program is aimed, therefore at muscular fitness, principally with the extensive, progressive stretches based on yoga poses. Brownstein is careful to give appropriate cautions along the way: when to seek medical help, possible signs of serious disease. Nutritional advice, stress- reduction exercises, advice on lifestyle changes, and ``Emotional and Spiritual Lessons for Healing'' round out the program. Reliable advice for a common problem, with a spiritual/yoga flavor that will have special appeal for some sufferers. ($70,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; 1st, First Edition edition (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743424646
• ISBN-13: 978-0743424646
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diseases & Physical Ailments > Backache

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 98 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Art Brownstein's program works for me! May 27, 1999

By Dwayne A. Chesnut

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I would give this book 6 stars if I could. The yoga-based exercises Dr. Brownstein describes and illustrates so clearly saved me from the expense, pain, and risk of a lumbar laminectomy to remove a synovial cyst at the right L4/L5 facet joint. I didn't even know I had a back problem until I had an MRI this spring. All my symptoms were in my legs and hips, beginning with intermittent pain and numbness a few years ago, then progressing to fairly severe sciatica last fall. I was not incapacitated, but just moving around for daily activities was at best unpleasant. It was not fun to have severe cramps in my gluteus, along with sharp, shooting pains down the backs of my legs, and numbness in my toes and soles of my feet. I was advised that surgery was the only long-term solution. I attended Dean Ornish's Preventive Medicine Retreat in mid-April, 1999, where I met Dr. Lee Lipsenthal, and asked him if he had any knowledge about lumbar cysts. He strongly recommended Dr. Brownstein's book. Participants in the Retreat were given some instruction in Yoga, but Dr. Lipsenthal said Dr. Brownstein gave many more stretches aimed specifically at relieving back pain by developing better muscular conditioning. I consulted a surgeon on April 20, and scheduled a lumbar laminectomy for May 17. I bought a copy of Healing Back Pain Naturally on April 22, and began practicing the Yoga positions. On May 3, I was still having significant pain. I could not carry a box of newspapers weighing 25 to 30 pounds out to my curb for recycling without stopping to take the weight off my spine. I started doing the stretches twice a day for about 45 minutes each time. The following Sunday, May 9, I carried six 50-pound sacks of salt from my car to my water softener and poured them into the softener - WITH NO PAIN OR DISCOMFORT. I continued the twice-a-day regimen, and decided on May 11 to cancel the laminectomy. As a scientist, I find it difficult to believe that something so simple can have such a profound, immediate effect. But I am almost completely free of symptoms, and those I have left are mild and confined to my right leg. Nothing, including the program recommended in this book, will work for everyone. But if you have back problems, buy a copy, pay careful attention to the disclaimer at the beginning, consult your physician, and, if your physician approves, try Dr. Brownstein's recommendations, including those on diet and stress reduction (the latter are essentially the same as Dean Ornish's program). No other book I have read has so powerfully affected my life.

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This really helped! June 18, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I am not a big believer in alternative medicine, but after an MRI showed a ruptured L-5 disk, (and the doctor suggested surgery)I chose to explore other options. Luckily, my internet search led me to Amazon's reviews of Dr. Brownstein's book and I decided to try his methods before pursuing surgery. I can only say that the results are miraculous! After six months of mild to excruciating back and leg pain, I am now 95% pain -free; off all painkillers; and I've resumed walking 3.5 miles daily. The idea of these simple stretching exercises as a "cure" seems so far-fetched to me that I can only urge back-pain sufferers to give this a try! I felt significant results in a matter of days! Thank you, Dr. Brownstein (and Amazon, too!)

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I have my life back! September 30, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

The words echoed in my ears, "you need three (3) fusions immediately!" To tell the truth, I was so frightened by what the Doctors were telling me, that I began to feel histerical. I had originally gone to the Doctor because of an unrelenting pain that seared down my right leg and exploded into my upper right foot. I also had incredible pain in my hips and lower back. All of this was just an ongoing problem that I had experienced for years but had exhilarated just recently.

I did have the MRI done and then the nightmare began. As Dr. Brownstein says, "The medical community has gotton too good at showing us all the ugliness within our bodies." And with that information, they encouraged me into full blown back fusion surgery.

Being a Metaphysical Student I just knew that there must be a better solution for me. During that week, a local talkshow host had Dr. Brownstein scheduled to be on the air with him. I learned about this and listened intently.

I bought the book - read it - and began the first series of exercises. I told all five Doctors that I didn`t have anything to lose if I did this first, after all, I could always have the surgery.

Within one month, I was feeling 40% better,and within another month I was almost 90% better. I`m not saying it was easy as it will be an ongoing process the rest of my life, but I can live a pretty normal life without pain. I walk four miles a day - swim for 35 minutes and stretch and strengthen by back with the exercises. It`s a good life and I thank God that I had the opportunity to fine the book and learn about this alternative before the three fusions.

Needless to say I give this book five stars because it has truly given me my life back. THANK YOU Dr. Brownstein!