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 enlarge | Author: John E. Sarno
Publisher: Warner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $13.99
Buy Used: $2.14
You Save: $11.85 (85%)
New (50) Used (95) Collectible (2) from $2.14
Rating:  359 reviews
Sales Rank: 1559
Media: Paperback
Pages: 208
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0446392308
Dewey Decimal Number: 617.564
EAN: 9780446392303
ASIN: 0446392308
Publication Date: February 1, 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Showing reviews 11-15 of 359
 Suspect Theory -- No Practice Described May 31, 2008
Laura Landy (Northeast USA)
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
READING IT DID NOTHING FOR MY BACK PAIN
I'm perplexed that so many say, "all I did was read this book and I was healed from years of back pain." I read it, and it didn't change a thing. And there is no description of the actual method, except for what boils down to: "If you're in pain, ask yourself what you're angry about and you will be healed."
SIMPLISTIC MIND-BODY CONNECTION THEORIZING
Sarno's approach is simplistic, although he does offer biophysical knowledge about how stress affects the body. He derives his theory from Freud's notion of conversion reaction--that the unconscious transfers unpleasant feelings into physical symptoms. The logical corollary: if you become aware of your inner feelings, the body will release the pain.
MIND OVER MATTER? DO NO HARM?
The relationship of mind, body, emotions, and spiritual states is a complex dance. Sarno's "mind over matter" approach does a disservice to conventional and alternative healing modalities that have proven effective for back pain. He suggests that you continue your active lifestyle, discontinue all other treatments (e.g., chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture, stretching, surgery), and essentially, act as though the pain isn't there. In his view, those treatments alleviate, they don't heal.
This concerns me because 1] with extreme back pain, you can't continue your usual activities, and 2] if you try to do so, you could cause worsen the injury.
Finally, this book is repetitive. He could have made his point with 1/2 the number of words.
CAVEAT
I gave it 2 stars because understanding your emotions and biopsychological process supports healing. I suspect a strong placebo effect coupled with emotional release worded for a lucky few with pain that was mostly stress-related.
Yes, be in touch with how your feelings connect with your physical states, but take care. Treat your body with respect. It is a tough little plant that may occasionally get bruised and need very gentle, deep healing; it's not an untamed wild thing over which you must gain dominion.
 I was a sceptic, but definitely changed my mind May 31, 2008
R. Morley (Evian, France)
I bought this book, along with "Healing Back Pain Naturally" by Art Brownstein, M.D., after suffering from pain in the back, groin, abdomen and knee for some months. I skimmed over Dr. Sarno's book, but was sure that it didn't apply to me. MY pain was REAL, not something psychologically induced! So I launched into Dr. Brownstein's book, and, being sports-oriented, did many of his exercises for the back. I also had all the MRI's and x-rays done, all of which showed no physical problems at all.
After 8 months of sporadic improvement and setbacks, with their accompanying depression, I once again peeked into "Healing Back Pain," and suddenly, it all made perfect sense to me. I was able to perfectly correlate events that had been particularly upsetting to me with bouts of pain. Incredibly, just reading this and accepting it immediately made me feel much better.
I now scold any pains that pop up from now and then, reminding them that they're just a trick and not really physically based. They then slink off into the netherlands, where they belong. I intend to re-read Dr. Sarno's book from time to time, to try to avoid repressing anger and anxiety as I tend to do, and to review the daily reminders that he recommends.
My advice to you is to be open-minded and read this book, if you have had pain for some time. It really does make sense and it really does help.
Excellent book!!! May 14, 2008
Kevin R. Jarvis (Canada)
This book changed my life forever as well as the way I look at pain in all forms. I suffered from many different TMS imperatives throuout my life and Dr. Sarno has lead me out of those dark places. I wrote a book about my journey through TMS and I hope it helps many people as well.
Kevin Jarvis
kevinrobertjarvis.com
The best fifteen bucks you'll ever spend--maybe May 11, 2008
Torgeir Hansson (San Francisco, CA USA)
I had serious back pain for about seven years. I kept it in control by going to a chiropractor (who tried to convert me to Scientology), exercises, acupuncture, painkillers, and the rest. The pain was in the lower back, and was made worse by sciatica. There were many times when my symptoms were so severe that it was too painful to even drive a car.
I read the book. I found it refreshing to have a clinician lay out some simple logic: how your back is in constant use and is therefore strong, how it heals as well and as quickly as any other part of your body after it is injured, and how his observations from X-rays suggested to him that there had to be a non-physical reason for all the thousands of complaints of pain that he was dealing with.
I thought about what I had read, and thought about it some more. The pain started going away. In short order I dropped the chiropractor (forty bucks per visit), the painkillers, and everything else I was doing, and just got on with my life.
There will be people out there who will not be helped by this book. But if you have back pain and have not been diagnosed with a serious condition, hell, even if you have--give it a read.
All I can say is that this book sure helped me. I don't have pain anymore (almost never at least.) I don't think about my back anymore, and I don't think there's anything wrong with me anymore.
You may have the same experience I had: no more back pain. How does that sound for fifteen bucks?
P.S. Since then I have read up on chiropractic treatment, and realize that the whole profession is pretty suspect. Did you know that the founder of chiropractic was a certain D.D. Palmer, who until then had been waving his hands over people to transfer healing power to their organs? His first claim of success was to heal a deaf person by adjusting his spine. Only thing is, of course, that the aural nerves aren't anywhere near the spine....
If I was a chiropractor I would try to keep my patients as far away from this book as possible. I think their waiting rooms would be a lot less crowded if more people read this book.
 Plausible April 14, 2008
CHA (Boston, MA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am an avid runner and I noticed some mild discomfort in my hip and glute this past fall. I ran a road race on Thanksgiving morning and then, as I do every year, I put my running shoes away for most of the winter. That next week the pain in my glute increased and to make matters worse I started to get a cold with coughing and sneezing that sent the pain shooting down my leg. Most of the discomfort was at night. Once I got moving in the morning I felt OK. An MRI showed a herniated disk L4-L5 and the doctor said that could potentially be pinching on a nerve, possibly causing the pain (note potentially/possibly). He admitted that herniated disks usually do not cause pain and they usually cannot say for sure what's causing the pain. He said that the only protocal at this time is PT and cortisone injections. If there is numbness, weakness or bowel control issues then surgery is the last resort. He made no guarantees. I started taking Yoga and Pilates classes. I consulted with a chiropractor who said my running days were over and recommended "Decompression Therapy" at a cost of $4,000 not covered by insurance. I went as far as the 3rd cortisone injection and after 5 months nothing changed better or worse. My sister sent me this book and I started reading it on my bus ride to work one day and that afternoon I went out and bought a new pair of running shoes and I am easing my way back into it. I am having mostly good days, now and then a spasm hits but I agree with Dr. Sarno that it is harmless.
Yes this book seems kind of light weight but the premise makes sense to me. Any medical jargon would mostly be over my head anyway. Dr. Sarno stresses that any lasting pain should be evaluated by a doctor to rule out cancer/tumors/fractures/etc...I disagree with the argument that he is taking advantage of desperate people to make money. I am sure he was already well off financially before he wrote any books. I think it's the other "alternative therapists" such as chiropractors that are taking advantage of those who are desperate. My doctor said that most back pain resolves itself and that whatever treatment you were pursuing at that time would get credit for resolving it. For $10 the book is a pretty reasonable bargain even if only for the placebo effect. Isn't that what Dr. Sarno is trying to say anyway!
Perhaps it's just telling me what I want to hear. Aren't we all like that? Notice the sedentary, overweight types who rationalize that running (and exercise in general) is bad for your body and makes no difference?
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