Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection

Top positive review

This book has been crucial to my life and happiness!

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2018

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

Top critical review

All critical reviews›

liverleef

One of the strangest books I've read.

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2018

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

Sort by

Filter by

4,439 global ratings | 2,218 global reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

Oggy Doggy

This book has been crucial to my life and happiness!

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

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

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

Kyle

Medical Truth. Buy this book, practice the techniques, and hang in there! You will heal.

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2014

After 3 years of chronic low back pain and neck pain, I am healing. John Sarno's diagnosis is the truth, medicine is WAAY far behind in understanding the connection between emotions and illness, especially chronic pain. I bought this book in February with very consistent, badly affecting pain everyday and am now down to a daily 1 or 0 in pain. My biggest advice is HANG IN THERE, the book says it takes 6-8 weeks to heal completely and it has taken me much longer than that, don't be discouraged if you are still in pain after that time frame. Everyone is different and it took me 3 months to get to where I am now but the results are UNBELIEVABLE, pain is almost nothing to me now and in time it will be nothing and chronic pain will only be a memory.

Here are some KEY tips that helped me to heal:

1. Stop covering up your feelings. In the past, if someone said something offensive towards me, I would cover up the feeling by thinking about it, rationalizing why they said, what they said, the context, blah blah blah but the FEELING is what is important. My mind would say I'm not offended but the truth is I am. FEEL THAT FEELING and tell yourself it's ok to feel this. I am ok.

2. Stop letting your thoughts torture you. In the past I would let my head spin in worry for hours and hours, thinking oh maybe this will happen, but what if that happens. Take charge and say NO to your worry thoughts. It will suck for a while because worry is a habit and it takes time to break so you will be stopping your thoughts A LOT but eventually the worry slows down and dissipates. Channel that inner rage at your thoughts. Tell them to shut up! I wont take this abuse anymore, I deserve to feel good and I choose to feel hopeful.

3. Practice positive thinking and prayer. This will vibrationally help you to heal. Feed yourself POSITIVE ENERGY as much as you can, believe in your healing, no matter what the pain is telling you. Listen to My Morning Jacket, spend time in nature, get off Twitter and Instagram and all that noise, pet your dog, think about great things that have happened to you.

4. Journal. Write about what makes you angry, sad, scared, insecure. Write it out. I would oftentimes feel the repressed rage boiling up to the surface as I wrote. This is exactly what the pain is trying to distract you from, it is great to feel that rage there.

5. Cry, scream, beat the hell out of something. Get those emotions moving. If you have chronic pain, you have stale emotions sitting in you. Lay on your bed and breathe deeply into your belly, make a sound as you exhale, this helps to rouse the old emotions, bringing them to the surface. Keep breathing into it and cry it out, beat your pillow, whatever you're feeling.

6. Don't worry about setbacks. I had so many times where the pain would go down, only to come back with a vengeance. I was afraid I would never heal, but the fact that you can get it moving up and down like that at all shows that things are changing. Keep practicing, hold strong, and eventually the pain starts to lose the fight.

Good luck and god bless.

1,181 people found this helpful

Helpful

Drewppy in PA

Severe Back Pain Gone

Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

I purchase all of my books from Amazon but rarely feel compelled to write a review. However, in this case I felt compelled to "give back" and maybe help someone else. Over the last fifteen years or so I have had off and on bouts with back issues. Two different colleagues of mine who previously had significant back issues recommended Healing Back Pain to me. I trust them both yet I was very skeptical. Then, approximately six weeks ago I was in the office cafeteria and I was struck with pain in my lower back that was so severe that I was literally immobilized. I had to sit down for twenty minutes just to be able to slow "walk-slide" (e.g. slide my feet along the ground without really lifting them). The pain radiated from my lower back and down both legs. I'd never experienced anything like it. I consulted my physician, went to the chiropractor, took anti-inflammatory drugs and a regimen of steroids. Nothing worked for me and the pain was incredible. I was only able to stand up for a minute or two at a time without significant pain. I continued to read Healing Back Pain and followed what it said. I also watched several of Dr. Sarno's videos. After a few weeks the pain started to dissipate. I am happy to report that today I have no residual effects. I am back to my normal activities, including very heavy weight lifting. Every once in a while I can feel a twinge and I remind my brain what is occurring and the twinge goes away. For anyone with significant back issues, I realize that this is very hard to believe. However, it worked for me and I am now pain free. If you are reading this and decide to give it a try, I really hope it works for you too. Back pain is a terrible thing to endure.

111 people found this helpful

Helpful

Pearl Lin

I am forever grateful to Dr Sarno

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2016

Verified Purchase

I have found the cause and cure for my horrible hip & leg pain that I suffered for more than 10 years!!! IT CHANGED MY LIFE!! What a great relief! I actually read Dr. Sarno’s book 10 years ago and had experienced very good results. The book was recommended by my friend Judy, who got help from reading this book and cured her TMS. (Thank you, Judy!) I was quite sure that I was having TMS back then. However, I failed the battle because and I didn’t know how to handle recurrence episodes, so I thought I was not having TMS. What a big mistake!! I gave up on the theory, put the book back to the book shelf and went back to my old treatments – physical therapy, acupuncture treatments, chiropractors, pain killers, massage, ice, etc., for 10 years!! I really wish I held onto Dr. Sarno’s theory and saved myself so much unnecessary suffering…

During the past 10 (2004 – 2014) years, I was not in constant pain, but every year I had at least 2 -3 episodes. Each episode will last for about 2 months. My physical therapists told me that my core muscles were too weak; that’s why I kept injuring myself if I lift something heavy or slip my feet on ice. I had trouble to walk during the attacks, because the muscles in my hip areas were having spasm which made my hip alignment crooked, one leg will become shorter than another. During each attack, I had to accept the truth that I will have to live with the pain for about 2 months. My physical therapist said that strengthening and stretching my muscles will be my only solution.

Because of the excruciating & debilitating pain, I sometimes had to use crutches. The buttock muscles were having constant spasm and the pain travels from one side to another. I can never forget the worst situation I had before, was that one night I didn’t have my crutches with me so I had to crawl from my bedroom to bathroom at night…

On 12/30/13, I had another attack right before my husband’s eye surgery. I was under a lot of stress because his other health issues plus his eye surgery. During this most recent episode, I went to my PT who already became my friend to receive my usual massage and adjusting treatments for about 1 month and yet the pain still kept traveling to different areas between my hips and legs and the pain just won’t go away.

On 1/23/14, I was so depressed and feeling hopeless. I felt that my life is over because of this never fading problem and it made me not able to function. Out of desperation, I suddenly thought about the book “Healing Back Pain” by Dr. Sarno that I read 10 years ago. I picked it up from my book shelf and read it again from chapter 1 carefully. This time I again see myself on each page of this book like 10 years ago. To help myself even better, I also read a lot of reviews from Amazon about this book; I realized that there are so many people had the same problem as me. A lot of them are even more serious than me and they were cured. I also found out that for some people it does takes longer to be cured 100%. Not everyone was cured 100% instantly. For some people it takes 2 day, some 1 to 2 weeks, or even 1 to 2 months, or ever longer. Be patient and do not doubt!!

Another very important aspect that we should know is sometimes TMS can come back because our brains are so deeply ingrained by the previous diagnosis and experiences. We just need to learn how to deal with it by shifting our attention to our emotion and reading the daily reminder that Dr. Sarno suggested. The pain should go away in a very short period of time. I also watched some video online to help to understand how other people got help by Dr. Sarno’s theory.

This time, 10 years later, the result was amazing! I’m now 100% cured! It took me about 1 week to get 100%!

Here is a record during that amazing 1 week. I’d like to share this with you to hopefully be of any help to you --

The 1st day – I read the book and felt 90% better immediately. I stopped messaging myself and doing any strengthening and stretching exercises that I supposed to do in the past. I can feel that my both legs were stronger and most of the pain was gone, but right buttock still has some mild pain and tightness.

The 2nd day – Read more of the book and some Amazon book reviews. I can walk normally and felt stronger than yesterday. Later on, I felt a short period of pain in my groin area and I immediately shift my focus on my emotion, not my physical, and the pain just disappeared instantly. But the tightness in the right buttock was still there.

The 3rd day – I read more of the book and the Amazon book reviews. I did laundry and cleaning work without any pain but with the same tightness in my right buttock.

The 4th day – I went grocery shopping for 2 hours without any pain and with just the same tightness in the right buttock area. Read more of the book and watched some video regards to Dr. Sarno’s theory.

The 5th day – I shoveled the snow for 2 hours with no pain. I was so proud of myself.

The 6th day – I felt I was 95% better. I can still felt the tightness in my right hip area though. I went to my PT that day for the last time because the insurance company needed an evaluation report done by my PT. During this past 1 week, I purposely didn’t do any strengthening & stretching that I supposed to do and yet I my PT checked on me and said that my hip alignment was perfect. Both legs were in the same length. I told my PT about this book and cancelled all the booked appointments for the following weeks and asked her NOT to loosen me up on my right buttock since I didn’t want the treatment to confuse my brain.

The 7th day – I was 100% better. The last bit of pain and tightness in my right hip area was totally gone.

During the following months, I got 2 or 3 times of very mild soreness here and there, but they didn’t last and never affected my walking ability. All I needed to do was to review Dr. Sarno’s "daily reminders" on page 82 and to resume writing journals every night to focus or "think" psychological and the pain will go away instantly.

However, I have to say, it does take TREMENDOUS courage. When my hips gave me the old signals that I used to think that it was about to go into spasm, I had to ignore it, and walk, bend over, or lift something, and ignore my fears. I had to force myself not to massage the sore muscles, refuse the PT treatments and be patient to let it go away itself. I had to talk to myself and deal with the fear everyday. This was the most difficult aspect of this healing, though. But it is WORTH it.

I feel that I’m gaining back my confidence and ability to live my life. I’m hopeful and very thankful. I’m no longer feeling as a victim but wish my experience can be a blessing to other sufferers. Not only did it cure my pain but it gave me tremendous insights into my own psychology which were incredibly valuable. I realized that I am/was a very anxious person. I constantly live in fear. Especially about my pain, immobility and my husband and my kid’s health conditions; these are probably my biggest worries.

I can only hope that more doctors and health care providers will read this book and accept this theory to help thousands and thousands of people who are suffering from TMS pain and yet are being treated incorrectly.

I ordered several Dr. Sarno’s books to share with people around me. I thank God for Dr. Sarno and would recommend his book and theory to anyone who is in chronic pain. Even if you are not in pain, it’s good to have the knowledge that the connection between body and mind as a prevention and maybe you can help other people by mentioning this book. If you are in chronic pain, please read this book with an open mind. Just like a reader, Steve Rankel, commented in his Amazon book review for this book ”Why do we as humans think everything must be hard? Complexity is not the measure of something's value. Results are.”

I am forever grateful to Dr Sarno. Thank you Dr. Sarno from the bottom of my heart!! You are an amazing doctor. I appreciate you for regaining my health, my life, and I admire you for your honesty and courage to challenge the mainstream medical society. Please keep teaching others how to take advantage of the healing capabilities God gave to all of us.

Dr. Sarno, you truly deserve Nobel Prize!!!

225 people found this helpful

Helpful

L. Dyson

anecdotal at best. don't waste your time

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

The author doesn't present anything more than a novel idea. His first requirement to recovery is to abandon all other professionals since he believes they are rubbish and with full faith believe whole heartedly in his method as if belief alone will make it happen. He fails to reveal his method other than numerous rambling stories of how people filled with rage and anxiety resolve their emotions and bring about cures. His opinion is that the release of rage and anxiety will resolve any and all your back pain.
My kids still believe whole heartedly in the tooth fairy and Santa Clause but it has yet to bring either of those characters to do what they dream will happen. Certainly back pain is complex and a house with a faulty foundation will experience more issues than a sound foundation; it shouldn't be difficult to understand that. I am sorry that I wasted time with this book; please don't waste yours!

27 people found this helpful

Helpful

RoseWho

I wish I could buy this book for everyone who ...

Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2016

Verified Purchase

I wish I could buy this book for everyone who has ever experienced debilitating back pain or any other kind of chronic pain. I don't have time to write the long review this book deserves but I will just say this: I went from being in excruciating pain for years with a "verified" spinal/nerve injury that would flare up periodically to being completely pain-free almost over night. I now bike several times a week, I can sit for hours and hours with no pain at all, I can walk miles, and I can lift heavy objects. In addition, I teach 6th grade and run around my classroom every day during the school year. If I sense a bit of a backache coming on, which is rare, I have the tools to address it. Please, buy this book and read it with an open mind. It could change your life.

Thank you, Dr. Sarno.

75 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kevin J.

Pain gone, IBS imporving, eyesight improving and more!

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

I am 31, I have had joint issues sine I was 12. For the past 12 years I have been dealing with debilitating IBS-D, where I was going 15 times a day with liquid diarrhea. I also had eczema so bad that my hands would be filled with cuts, oozing puss and I could barely bend them or use them, I have had a myriad of other problems as well. I have tried aliopathic and naturopathic, and holistic medicine. I tried all sorts of diets, vegetarian, fruititarian, mostly meat diets, cooked veggies, and everything under the sun. This book has made me feel better than I have since I was 7-8 years old, honestly even better, when I was little I didn't have this much energy. My eczema is fading, my eyesight is improving, my hair is not falling out as fast, my IBS is improving each day, my memory is better and this is only the beginning of the fourth week since I read the book.

I had no idea how much repressed emotions I have had, it is scary. I coupled the info from this book with my faith which has made it even more powerful. I was and am able to put all these burdensome emotions on Christ. I was saved by the grace of God 5 years ago, and that helped me get through the toughest times health wise, But now that so much repressed anger, worry, anxiety, low self-esteem, and narcissism have come to light, I asked God for forgiveness and the guilt has melted away, along with the pain in my body.

This book has helped my Mother, brother and his wife. I bought four copies to give to people. I hope this helps you!

21 people found this helpful

Helpful

Insulting

Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

This books concept is that everyone has the ability to become symptom free from their debilitating back and neck pain using their mind and all treatments should be considered to be stopped. I love the "resume physical activity" I couldnt even walk.
There are a lot of treatments to try that dont include surgery, and some were mentioned, but I assure you there is no way Im going to overcome my sebere back and neck issues by only using my mind.
This is a stupid book that makes blanket statements and assumptions about back and neck pain.
Some of us have lost our lives from back and neck pain and there is notjing wrong with alternate treatments, decompression, lasers, etc.
No, I wont just wait it out when every day is torture. Rediculous. There are non invasive treatments out there that work and I want to try them.

19 people found this helpful

Helpful

Need customer service? Click here

‹ See all details for Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection

5 star		70%
4 star		12%
3 star		8%
2 star		5%
1 star		5%

Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection

›

Customer reviews

Customer reviews

Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection

Top positive review

Top critical review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection › Customer reviews

Customer reviews

Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection

Top positive review

Top critical review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection

›

Customer reviews