Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living [Paperback]

Craig Williamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 14, 2007

Here's an innovative and practical approach to eliminating chronic muscle pain, written by a popular occupational therapist with thirty years of experience freeing people from the discomfort of tendonitis, lower back pain, and neck and shoulder tension. These types of chronic pain can be caused by a number of factors, including old injuries, habitual movement patterns, problems with body alignment, psychological causes, and inability to sense your own body movements accurately. Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living clearly and concisely explains the causes of persistent muscle pain and offers a therapeutic exercise program to address these problems and end pain.


This book explains the basic principles behind Williamson Muscular Retraining, a pain-relief discipline, in a way that is practical and easy to understand. The problems of poor posture, muscle tension, and stress-caused pain are corrected by seeing them through the lens of kinesthetic awareness. Normal kinesthetic awareness is lacking in much of the population and typically overlooked by health care practitioners. Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living presents case examples of how people have used kinesthetic awareness and exercises to change how they think of their bodies and to end pain.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Williamson's true gift is guidance in understanding the connection among body movement, self awareness, and relaxation."—Library Journal

"This book contains the keys to living fully and freely in your body."—Christine Northrup, MD, author of Mother-Daughter Wisdom and Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

"Everyone in pain, and those who treat them, should read this book."—Karen Margolis, MD, Senior Clinical Investigator, HealthPartners Research Foundation; Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Medical School

"Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living is an important contribution to the literature on diagnosis and treatment of musculo-skeletal problems."—Douglas W. Brown, MD, President, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine; former Team Physician, U.S. National Soccer Teams (1986–2004)

"Craig Williamson has written a brilliant book: clear, concise, and profound. Reading it may not only change your awareness of your body, it may also change your life."—Donald Hankinson, DO, Director of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine at Maine Medical Center

"Craig has paid his dues in many years of exploring the field, from the arts to psychotherapy to the biomechanical sciences. His book is a breath of fresh air—an appeal to the innate but largely unused power of our kinesthetic intelligence to heal and 'right' ourselves."—Tom Myers, LMT, NCTMB, author of Anatomy Trains
 
"I recommend Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living for yoga teachers as well as anyone who wants to move with better function, elegance, and ease."—Judith Hanson Lasater, PhD, physical therapist and yoga teacher since 1971; author of six books, including A Year of Living Your Yoga
 
 
"Craig Williamson's Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living is a revelation for people who seek relief from chronic bodily pain.  It is a book about healing that works, because Craig knows the vital importance of awareness to healthy living."—Robert K. Hall, MD, co-founder Lomi School, author of Out of Nowhere, Dharma teacher
 
 
"Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living opens the door to healing through increased awareness—for professionals, athletes, dancers, and people in the street. Author Craig Williamson extends an invitation to all readers to discover their own habitual patterns and transform connections between their minds and bodies. I recommend it to students and teachers alike as an accessible and useful guide to come back to again and again."—June Vail, Professor of Dance, Bowdoin College

About the Author

Craig Williamson, MSOT, is an occupational therapist who treats patients with persistent pain problems. He is the pioneer of Somatic Integration (www.somaticintegration.com), an approach to muscular pain relief that includes muscular retraining techniques and specific, targeted exercises. He lives and practices in Portland, Maine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: Trumpeter; 1 edition (August 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590303679
• ISBN-13: 978-1590303672
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Aging > Chronic Pain

More About the Author

Craig Williamson, muscular pain specialist, has developed Williamson Muscular Retraining based upon 30 years of experience of helping people with all manner of musculoskeletal pain. He is the author of Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living. The essence of his work is the use of kinesthetic awareness as a therapeutic force. This is combined with knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and psychology into a holistic approach to solving ongoing pain problems. Craig has an independent practice in Portland, Maine, where he works with clients who have a wide range of pain issues. Many prominent orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, osteopathic physicians, and physiatrists send their patients to Craig to help them sort out difficult musculoskeletal pain problems. In addition to a Masters Degree in occupational therapy from Boston University, Craig has an extensive background in hands-on bodywork, anatomy, corrective movement, dance, and psychotherapy. As an expert in floor exercise and posture education, he does video consultations with people internationally. Craig teaches professional level courses in Williamson Muscular Retraining to physical therapists, yoga teachers, and pilates teachers; he also teaches his techniques in body use and injury prevention to performers of music, dance and theater. Williamson Muscular Retraining is the basis of his course at the University of Southern Maine, where he is a faculty member. For more information, go to www.craigwilliamson.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great addition to my library, October 15, 2007

By 

C. Ehringhaus "LMT, NCTMB" (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living (Paperback)

As a massage therapist, I found Craig Williamson's book to be both absorbing and enlightening. Williamson's book reads like a novel but explains clearly how chronic pain frequently has a neuromuscular rather than a mechanical root cause. He explains that muscle tone is influenced by the nervous system, coining the term "kinesthetic dysfunction" to describe people who are unable to tell whether or not their muscles are tense or relaxed. Williamson says that the neuromuscular system may maintain the cycle of pain long after an injury should have healed. He states, "If you think of a muscle as something that is being tightened, the implication is that someone is tightening it. That someone is you, even if you are not aware of it and do not wish to do so" (p. 62). He suggests that the reasons for musculoskeletal pain--other than structural damage--include reflexive muscular reaction from an injury, dysfunctional movement patterns, poor alignment and body use, kinesthetic dysfunction, and emotions. Although most of us who provide massage therapy do not work with clients dressed and walking about the room, as Williamson does, we can derive insights from his book to aid our understanding and treatment of chronic pain. Specifically, his book reinforces us to think of ways to help our clients become more aware - kinesthetically - of their bodies and habitual movement patterns. I highly recommend this book to LMTs and others who work with people who are in pain.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book of its kind, November 29, 2007

By 

Writer/Reader (New York City, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living (Paperback)

Craig Williamson's book is the best of its kind I've ever read. It is well written and easy to understand. He has made intelligible, the workings of the human body's muscles, tendons, joints and has explained so many of the reasons that we have body pain. If you've been suffering for years this book will turn on the light. When I finished it I wanted to make an appointment immediately but the author who practices his art of retraining lives in another State. I am doing the exercises and wish that there was a companion dvd so that I could be sure I am doing them right. I have written to the author and he is desirous of getting one out as well. Until then I am going to reread the book and continue to learn the exercises with great hopes of one day being free or at least more free than I am now of discomfort.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and Interesting, December 4, 2007

By 

Rebecca M (Somerville, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living (Paperback)

This book is well-balanced in practical and theoretical advice regarding how to manage chronic muscle pain, tension, repetitive stress injuries, tendonitis, etc. The basic principle rests on what Williamson calls "kinesthetic awareness," a quality most of us lack. Learning to develop our kinesthesia is the key to pain-free living. Williamson includes "explorations" in each chapter in order to develop this awareness. Part II of the book includes exercises tailored toward problem areas and based on the prior explorations.

Williamson presents the information in a logical and engaging way, encouraging the reader to the exercises daily. I have seen great improvement in my own lower back pain and would recommend this book to anyone who struggles with muscular pain.