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John E. Sarno

Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection Paperback – February 1, 1991

by John E. Sarno MD (Author)

4,439 ratings

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Dr. John E. Sarno's groundbreaking research on TMS (Tension Myoneural Syndrome) reveals how stress and other psychological factors can cause back pain-and how you can be pain free without drugs, exercise, or surgery.

Dr. Sarno's program has helped thousands of patients find relief from chronic back conditions. In this New York Times bestseller, Dr. Sarno teaches you how to identify stress and other psychological factors that cause back pain and demonstrates how to heal yourself--without drugs, surgery or exercise. Find out:

Why self-motivated and successful people are prone to Tension Myoneural Syndrome (TMS)
How anxiety and repressed anger trigger muscle spasms
How people condition themselves to accept back pain as inevitable

With case histories and the results of in-depth mind-body research, Dr. Sarno reveals how you can recognize the emotional roots of your TMS and sever the connections between mental and physical pain...and start recovering from back pain today.

Print length

193 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Warner Books
Publication date

February 1, 1991
Dimensions

5.25 x 0.63 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0446392308
ISBN-13

978-0446392303
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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 details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Warner Books; 1st edition (February 1, 1991)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 193 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0446392308
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0446392303
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.3 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.63 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Back Pain
- #3 in Naturopathy Medicine
- #4 in Pain Management (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4,439 ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

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Oggy Doggy

This book has been crucial to my life and happiness!

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

I have read all of Dr. Sarno's books, but I always go back to this one. Whenever I feel ANY pain in my body from shoulder , neck, back, legs, WHATEVER...I turn on the audio version of this book and within a few days I am back to normal.

Many years ago I had severe shoulder pain that lasted about 2 years, my doctor told me it was a torn rotator cuff , filled me up with pain pills and sent me off to physical therapy. When that didn't work ( it made it worse ) he wanted to do surgery. ( I did not do the surgery.) That is when I found Dr. John Sarno. It WAS NOT an instant fix, but slowly over several months ALL of my pain went away and has STAYED away! This was back in 2008! I went to my doctor 6 months after finding this book and he asked me how my shoulder is doing. I told him it's completely healed. He was astonished and asked me how? I told him that I read a book- HE LITERALLY LAUGHED AT ME!

Look, it is a hard pill to swallow and when I tell people about this book that saved my life, they usually get angry with me as if I don't believe they are in real pain which must have a real physical reason. I get it, most people will not have faith and believe in this simple idea. I could not put on my T-Shirt without extreme , sharp, debilitating pain. Now I am pain free for more than 10 years!

Here it is in a nutshell: Good luck!
Dr Sarno’s 12 Daily Reminders

1. The pain is due to TMS and not a structural abnormality.
2. The direct reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation.
3. TMS is a harmless condition caused by my repressed emotions.
4. The principal emotion is my repressed ANGER.
5. TMS only exists to distract my attention from the emotions.
6. Since my back is basically normal, there is nothing to fear.
7. Therefore physical activity is not dangerous.
8. And I must resume all normal physical activity.
9. I will not be concerned or intimidated by the pain.
10. I will shift my attention from the pain to the emotions.
11. I intend to be in control, not my sub-conscious mind.
12. I must think psychological at all times, not physical.

198 people found this helpful

Helpful

liverleef

One of the strangest books I've read.

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2018

Verified Purchase

I've long suffered with back pain. I have scoliosis, arthritis and the typical stuff people get as they age (degenerative disc disease, sciatica, etc). I don't normally go for books like this but like others I was getting desperate so I gave it a read. I knew Dr Sarno would offer a non traditional approach to healing back pain but I never expected this.

Dr Sarno believes that back pain is caused by the subconscious mind in an effort to keep you from thinking about or dealing with unpleasant or painful thoughts and feelings. It accomplishes this by depriving oxygen to the nerves and tissues surrounding the spine. This is a condition he calls TMS. Conveniently, this is not a condition that can be measured, viewed on imaging or the like. You just got to take his word for it. If this sounds crazy, hang on, it gets crazier.

One might think that the solution to TMS would be psychotherapy then, right? Well, not exactly. Dr Sarno thinks that the important step to recovery from TMS is to understand how TMS works. You see once the subconscious mind becomes aware of the fact that you have discovered this big trick its trying to pull on you then it knows it can't use that anymore and relent on your back pain.

One thing I found particularly interesting about all this is how its written. Normally pseudo-scientific books will dress up their theories with lots of sciencey and clinical sounding words. To a reader untrained in medicine, this may make the claims seem more authentic. Dr. Sarno makes no attempt at all to do any of this. In fact, he goes out of his way to explain his theory in the most raw and uncomplicated terms possible so that his theory will be easily understood. It seems clear to me that Dr. Sarno honestly believes everything he has written in this book.

So Sarnos treatment is bunk then right? It's like this, read the book. Do what Sarno recommends. If you feel better then it isnt bunk at all. My back pain does feel better after reading the book but that might be because ive lost some weight and started exercising.

247 people found this helpful

Helpful

Daniel

Sarno will be remembered as one of the most influential and greatest doctors this planet has ever seen

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is the real deal. I am not paid by anyone to write this, I'm just a regular dude here to attest that the information contained in this book will heal you if you put faith into it and really stick to it. Just about any kind of physical pain you have will be healed after reading this and giving it time. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars on different kinds of alternative health therapies and spent years of my life going to regular doctors and specialists to try to get back to where I was in life. None did it, save for Dr. John E. Sarno. Howard Stern once said that this man deserves the Nobel Prize. I HIGHLY agree with Howard. Sometime down the line, maybe 100 years from now, Dr. Sarno will be remembered as one of the most influential and greatest doctors this planet has ever seen.

If you still don't believe me, shoot me a comment on this review and maybe we can chat via email. I used to walk around with a cane due to my pain and now I'm climbing mountains, back to work, sprinting, weight lifting, you name it. Good luck.

585 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

First ever review, as I want to help others BANISH the pain. Dr Sarno is amazing.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

I have never written a review for any product or book before but felt It was my duty to do so to prevent more people suffering needlessly from chronic pain.

In desperation I was researching ways to cure my horrendous chronic daily pain and thankfully came across Dr Sarno's book.

I have been in at times excruciating chronic pain daily following an operation on my foot in 2011. I'd had a serious accident as a teenager, where I nearly lost my foot and this operation was to remove some metal work 20 odd years later. Since the day of my op, I had no respite from the pain and as you can imagine my life became hell. Finally I was told I had severe sciatica and was put under a pain clinic where I was given physio, very strong nerve pills and painkillers, acupuncture and mindfulness/relaxation techniques. I even paid myself for chiropractic treatment (which made my pain worse). NOTHING has worked in all these years. The pain was mainly in my left calf, side of foot and toes as well as in my lower back and buttock. I had deep aching, stabbing pains, burning and pins and needles and numbness.

After reading the reviews and researching Dr Sarno, I ordered the book immediately. I am so happy to report that the book has changed my life and the pain has gone whilst I was reading it. Sometimes I get so nervous it will come back, but I tell myself I will just use the information Dr Sarno teaches to banish it away again. I cannot quite believe that this pain was all to do with repressed emotions, especially considering the way it manifest as such real physical pain. I just wish I'd found out about this book sooner as I could have saved myself a lot of heartache.

This is why I would encourage anyone to give this book a chance. I'm still in awe. I'm going to send a personal letter to Dr Sarno and give the book to a doctor at the pain clinic that I was under.

116 people found this helpful

s_e_a_n

Amazing book!!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

I read this book nearly 20 years ago and my life changed. I had suffered ten years of crippling back pain and had travelled the world looking for the answer. Refused back surgery thank God! as I was too scared it would further cripple me. And yes, I did have real back damage caused by a 20 foot fall when skateboarding, landed on my head and was unconscious for 3 days. Also fell down a mountain when skiing and crushed 2 upper vertebrae. Also beaten up and had two broken ribs where they connect to spine. I could go on but that's probably enough. Reading this book has allowed me to lead a healthy and active life. It's amazing how many people respond with "ah yes but I have REAL back pain" when I suggest they read it. There are none so blind as those who will not see.

50 people found this helpful

lucylou

I am a pretty laid back person

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2018

Verified Purchase

This worked for me! I am now free of back pain which has plagued me for 7 years. Not only this my Carpel Tunnel Syndromme CTS (hands/fingers going numb in the night - waking me up EVERY night - surgery proposed for both wrists) has also stopped. I saw a comment about Sarnos work around Easter, spent 2 weeks reading up on TMS - TMS WIki (forum), Healing Wall of Victory(youtube), Steve Ozanich etc. You listen to peoples stories and how TMS knowledge made them pain free, some of these people had been bedridden. You know these peoples stories are real because of the amount of detail they go into. You have to acknowledge that your brain is causing the pain, through supressed emotions and stress. I am a pretty laid back person, so this was difficult to acknowledge, but ultimately true. You have to convince yourself this is the truth, you read many peoples stories, you stop going to the osteo/chiro, using cushions, massage, stretches!!! I felt liberated. There is nothing wrong with my back, yes I have herniations but as we age everyones bodies deteriorate but not everyone has back pain. My herniations were not causing the pain, as I no longer have any pain. It took 3 weeks for the back pain to go and aprox another 3 weeks for all my CTS to stop. From what I have read this can help many other illnesses - migraines, stomach issues. This should be general knowledge not something it takes years to find out about.

38 people found this helpful

MannieP

Life Changer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

I have had excruciating sciatica since November 2018, which I put down to a problem with an osteoarthritic hip which was operated on last week. I had been seeing an osteopath and prior to that chiropractor for the sciatica in my ‘good leg’ with limited success Having had a total hip replacement last week I thought the sciatica would ease. Unfortunately it came back with avengeance. In desperation I started to read John Sarnos book given to me by my brother months previously. Within the first few chapters my pain had started to subside. A week later it has almost totally disappeared. Nothing short of a miracle. I would recommend that anyone experiencing pain should read this. I can only vouch for sciatica, but it is such a relief to be pain free.

21 people found this helpful

diesel doris

Dr Sarno is amazing!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

I read this book after a recent episode of back spasms coincided with a very stressful time, and i wondered if the two could be linked. I have had back pain for 9 years after 2 herniated discs (confirmed by MRI scans at the time and last year again) but this recent incident was triggered by stress, I was sure. I read this book and it described me to a T, and confirmed what I suspected. He raises some very good points, like why, when homo sapiens have been walking upright for millions of years, we have suddenly developed a problem with our back in the past few decades, especially when things should be getting easier due to the multitude of lift/pushing/pulling aids we have at our disposal? Read this book - it will open your eyes to a whole new way of thinking, and just possible, a life of less pain!

14 people found this helpful

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