Customer Reviews

Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living

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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.

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.

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.

I got a copy of this from the library and have got so much out of it that I came online to buy my own copy. I have been having treatment through acupuncture and cranial sacral therapy to get my hip back into alignment after falling down the stairs, and this explains a lot of what the therapist tries to explain to me during the sessions! I absolutely recommend this book..

I still have a hard time believing how much difference the exercises in this book help. I noticed a tremendous difference after doing them only once. They show me muscles I didn't know exisited and retrain them so that I am aware of how they work properly to hold and move my body. Be prepared to work hard mentally and to learn slowly. It is worth it!

For anyone who is trying to deal with physical pain, long or short term, this book is a truly powerful tool. I've been in the field for decades, and Mr. Williamson's clarity and precision outshine most of what's available. Written in simple language, he makes a deep and complex subject easily accessible. The best thing about this book is that it is gives you a way to actually put its transformative information into immediate use. I experienced considerable pain relief after just a few hours of playing with the exercises. It's now required reading for all my clients! Thank you Mr. Williamson.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has muscular pain issues. As someone who has suffered from neck, shoulder and hip stiffness and pain for years I can tell you that this book - both the narrative as well as the exercises - have helped me tremendously!

In the narrative, Craig Williamson not only provides the muscular/spinal theory behind why we have pain and how it can be alleviated, but provides numerous examples from his occupational therapy practice demonstrating problems and how they were corrected. The exercises in the latter half of the book really do work.

As part of the exercise description, the author adds the points "Sensing" and "Imaging" after the instruction on how to perform the exercise. Both those points are as important to the success of the exercise as the instruction. It really helps in the success of the exercise to follow and think about what you're feeling in your body as you perform the exercise, since one of the main points of the book is to become more aware of what your body and muscles doing.

As a result of the narrative and exercises in the book, I am standing taller and straighter, my muscles are more relaxed, and I am far more aware of how I hold myself (and how to re-correct my alignment and posture when I fall back into my former habits).

Better than a massage. Better than a yoga class. That's how my body feels after I do the gentle movements Craig Williamson describes in Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living. In lengthening my torso and strengthening my core, I seem to lighten my entire body. It's as if gravity is reduced. After years of shoulder and neck stiffness and pain, I have mobility and release of tension. What surprises me is how fluid my entire body feels after the exercises. There were places I never knew were tight and immobile. I thought Williamson's explanations of kinesthetic awareness were clear, and they rang true. I've recommended the book to several people and their responses have been positive as well. The book is a treat for your musculo-skeletal system.

Craig Williamson has written a thorough, scholarly, and yet user-friendly book about the management and relief of muscular and neuromuscular pain. He gives us complete exercises that make sense and are easy to follow. For those of us baby-boomers who have exercised for too many years without the proper form and relaxation techniques, I highly recommend this book to help you stay healthy so you can exercise for years to come. I have given this book to at least five friends who suffer all different kinds of back, shoulder, and neck pain, and they have all found great help from Williamson's extensive knowledge. Everyone in my family has read it and tries to bring these exercises and techniques into our daily lives. Every reader will benefit from Williamson's wisdom.

I am very impressed with this book. The ideas and techniques presented have been helpful to me in my search for a more pain-free life. The thought that we can build bad habits, which seem normal to us, and then find relief through retraining ourselves holds out hope after times of frustration with recurring pain.