Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection

this is a weird book. it's not really all that impressive, in and of itself -- a couple hundred pages of loosely sketched out theoretical ideas, and a general sort of critique of common chiropractic diagnoses. some of it makes a lot of sense, some of it seems a little far-fetched – objectively speaking, i can absolutely understand why some people dismiss dr. sarno and this (and his other similar) books as fluff/quackery. that being said – it works. or can, depending on who you are and what kind of pain you’re experiencing. i was suffering from horrible, near-disabling levels of lower back and neck pain when i first read this book, and as many others report, simply reading the book and thinking about what it had to say, made 95% of my discomfort simply vanish overnight, like magic. it was frankly shocking to me how effective it was, and i am a person who absolutely, 100% realizes how ridiculous that sounds. but that was my experience. i do still have back pain, but it is now 10 years later – just reading this book one night literally produced something like eight or nine years of very significant relief. whether the back pain i’m experiencing now is something different or just a recurrence/regression of the TMS described in this book is something i’m currently trying to figure out. the general argument put forward here is that changing the way you think about back (and certain related types of) pain can dramatically alter your experience with it, because the way we’ve been taught to evaluate this type of condition to ourselves is largely based on false medical myths that have an (unfortunately) strong influence on the way our psychology interacts with our body. sounds a little out there, perhaps, but it is – to my honest surprise – quite true. what the book offers is not a placebo effect. what's weird is that the pain a lot of people are experiencing is in itself a kind of (negative) placebo effect already – what this book can do, is sort of quickly train you to reverse the psychological processes that create that scenario. it's not that the pain you’re experiencing isn't real, or that it’s just imagined – it is very, physically real, as any sufferer knows – but in many people/cases, it's being produced and greatly exacerbated by a kind of trick of the brain that can be unlearned with surprising ease. a lot of people in the last couple of generations have, for various reasons the book gets into, unconsciously programmed themselves to be susceptible to certain types of back pain that don't have any real physical cause. most chiropractors and even physical therapists will x-ray you and explain you have a herniated disc, something out of alignment, scoliosis, etc. -- but while true, this is in most cases a very natural part of aging, and it only produces ongoing pain/discomfort in certain people. generally, they won't know exactly why – they'll theorize you have a "pinched nerve" or something along those lines, but this book explains how, in dr. sarno's opinion, that's just unethical guesswork and makes no diagnostic sense. he proposes that the pain is more akin to a negative placebo effect based on the anxiety natural to certain personality types, and nurtured by cultural conditioning. this anxiety and conditioning train the brain to deny oxygen to certain muscle groups and body areas, which produces spasms/constrictions/tension in those areas. while harmless in and of themselves, they can be very uncomfortable, and many in the medical community erroneously link this discomfort to what is actually pretty normal wear-and-tear along the spine. in turn, we (the sufferer) begin to overthink the fragility of our spine/back, and expect it to give us problems, which fuels the negative link the brain has already made to those areas. this begins to allow all kinds of personal anxieties and emotions to start registering in a very physically real way as body pain, usually in certain parts of the back or neck where we most anticipate pain to occur, and it becomes a self-fulfilling cycle that can just grow worse and worse over time. the book explains this all better and in more detail. not everything put forward in the book is 100% convincing, but dr. sarno has definitely tapped into a legitimate phenomenon – and i say that simply because the book just plain worked for me. after years of very depressing and increasingly excruciating levels of discomfort and pain that i attributed to a slipped disc, i read this book, and poof ... it was just literally gone. i couldn’t quite believe it and many people i relate the story to do not take it seriously. but my brain wised up to the trick it was playing on my body and the relief was literally an overnight phenomenon. and not only did it work – the results lasted many years. many people will blow off this book and sarno’s others as pseudo-scientific fluff – i get that. but, listen – i spent $2 on this book at the time i first read it, and got years of shockingly significant relief from it. it’s not like it’s a big expensive gamble, if you think it might help you. i also get that it won’t work for everyone – obviously there are legitimate injuries and conditions that can occur and cause pain that are unrelated to what the book describes (and which the book is very clear about). however, a lot of conditions that people think are legitimate physical problems are covered by this book, and have a far shakier medical basis than you’d think. psychology and the way your psychology programs your body and its expectations has a lot to do with a lot of the pain people suffer from. if you think there’s even a chance this book could help you, spend a couple bucks on a used copy and give it a shot. it takes a couple hours to read, and it could save you thousands in medical bills. worst case scenario, you learn a little about an alternative theory re: body pain. even if you’re skeptical, it’s sort of a no-brainer if you’re really suffering discomfort.

I am not exagerating when I say this book literally saved my life and gave me real future to look forward to. Back in 2011, when I was 23 years old, I started having debiliating back pain just out of the blue and it took over my life. The pain felt like severe sciatica and it limited every aspect of my life every single day - up until my husband found me this book back in 2019. I suffered everyday with just about everything, from the moment I woke up until the time I went to bed, and then throughout the night lying awake with insomnia mostly from the pain and also being depressed about how I even got this pain in the first place and if I would have to suffer with it for the rest of my life. I really couldn't do much of anything. It didn't matter whether I was sitting, standing, lying down, or walking, it was always present and aside from the extreme discomfort, it limited me physically and was frustrating when I was around others due to the inconvenience. I went to several doctors and specialists, had scans done, went to physical therapy, took pain killers, went to the chiropracter, and saw an acupuncturist. Some of them helped subside the pain, but it was only temporary - nothing long term, and eventually it would return full force again. No one could figure out why a 23 year old was experiencing this at all. We all just kept thinking I must have torn a tenden or weakened my back muscles, or it really was severe sciatica. At first I was skeptical about the book helping at all. But after I read it, I learned about TCM and how the subconscious mind could have such a powerful influence over the body. Then after hearing the case studies of others who experienced the same if not similar situations, I decided to give it a try and implement what the book taught to do. Well low and behold ... it worked. For the first time in 8 years... the pain actually stopped and I felt like I started living my life again. It seems hard to believe that a book could heal me, but I figure I really had NOTHING left to lose. I was in so much pain I didn't feel like I was really living... it felt like I was a prisoner in my own body. The worst that could happen was things would stay the same and that I would just continue to live with this pain for the rest of my life... and this was the case anyways whether or not I decided to do something. And wow am I glad I decided to listen and try it. It didn't happen instantaneously, but after trying one thing and seeing some truth to it (when the pain didn't follow it's usual course of action), I decided to keep practicing it and retrained myself with what the book taught. And eventually after 2 weeks the pain really started to fade away and gradually completely disappear after 6 months or so. It was NOT easy and I had to keep reminding myself about what Dr. Sarno taught in the book, but after being in constant pain for about 8 years, this was nothing compared to what i dealt with. And the result - I was finally able to live my life pain free again. So if you're like me and you've seen doctors, gone to physical therapy, taken medication, and NOTHING actually seems to work - just give this book a read. The worst that can happen is everything stays the same as it did before. But completely worth it if you ask me. It's now the end of 2023... and, knock-on-wood, still living pain free.

Loved the info

Why do I give this book such high marks? Firstly, it absolutely was exactly what I needed at a time when I really didn't know if I would ever walk again properly due to a back injury I suffered while cycling. I actually walked away from that brush up but over the course of the next 2-3 weeks I was experiencing increasing levels of discomfort and pain in my lower back. I sought a specialist however this was very arduous in the condition I was in. Eventually an emergency physician prescribed oxycotin for the pain I was experiencing. After 3 pills, I stopped that. I was weary of the effects, of not feeling pain, of feeling so 'happy' when I knew bloody well I had a serious injury and should be taking it easy. Here's the thing, I learned that staying still, staying put was not at all good. You have to move around. However, you have to respect your injury and the limits it has imposed on you and work through that. A friend recommended I read this book to help me in my recovery. I believe I was already in the right frame of mind and this book only cemented my approach to recovery. Early on the pain was so bad I couldn't barely walk, I had extreme pain in my sciatic from a lower lumbar bulging disc (or something like that). I had a cane. It was quite a humbling experience. This book helped me keep my spirit up and determination to listen to my body, stay connected and accept the pain as I healed up and made a full recovery. It may not work for you, but the approach is the right one. Healing from back pain is not guaranteed. This book can help you make the best of your back pain, and in some cases, heal completely.

Years of back pain vanished and restored my ability to bend forward, be active and do the things i love doing - including swimming and running.

I have thought long and hard about writing this review as I know how it feels to spend hours trawling through the internet searching for a cure for crippling pain, and knowing how much information is out there, I have hesitated to add to it. But my sincere wish is that this post will give someone else the courage and confidence to take a chance with this book. My story: I, like many people, have suffered with back problems all my life - I'm now 43 - and had accepted that frequent bouts of pain, my back 'going' and regular trips to a much trusted and respected osteopath were just part of life. And that was fine. Until I had a really bad and prolonged bout of pain that started in Autumn 2013. I'd had 'disc issues' in the past but my pain had ALWAYS been on the left side. One morning I woke up with real soreness in my right lower back. Slightly perplexed but not unduly alarmed I went to see my osteo as usual and expected everything to be fixed in a week or two. However, It didn't get better - in fact it got progressively worse. I started to worry that it would turn into the sort of pain that I had experienced a couple of years earlier. I was told then by my osteopath that I had injured a disc. The pain at the time was excruciating, but after treatments and several weeks of rest it did get better. Well this time my pain got worse and seemed to be evolving. It had started in the back but three months later was moving to my leg and becoming far more intense. Standing and walking became very difficult, making my long commute to work on the tube a nightmare. Losing faith in my osteopath I saw other physiotherapists and tried acupuncture - all to no effect, other than to be told repeatedly that my back 'was a mess' and I could expect pain on and off all my life. Finally in desperation I went to my GP who ordered an MRI. This showed various bulges and degeneration but most worryingly, an extruded disc (where the inner material has leaked out) and this was pressing on a nerve. My GP explained all this with patience and told me that if conventional treatment didn't work, I would have to consider injections or, down the road, surgery. The pain got even worse. Then, one day I stumbled across an article about the comedian Howard Stern and his battle against pain. He seemed to have found a miracle cure in the shape of a treatment by Dr John Sarno. By this time, I was endlessly searching the internet and becoming an expert on all things disc related. Thinking more information could only be good I bought the book. I read it within 48 hours - it was the Easter holiday and I was spending most of my time horizontal anyway. After the initial excitement that I might be one of the blessed ones who start to feel the pain evaporate as they read, I had to confess that although I liked the idea, and wanted it to be true, my pain was still there. Also I had an MRI, a GP and a host of other back pain specialists telling me it was a physical problem. To cut a long story short, I suffered on for another few months, until one day I just suddenly decided that I would suspend my disbelief and - as wholeheartedly as I could manage - do some of the exercises recommended by Sarno. I even wrote the date down in my diary 'first day of TMS'. I didn't by this stage hold out much hope, but I was willing finally to give it a go. So I started writing in a journal and doing the daily reminders. I also saw a therapist to talk about emotional stuff but completely abandoned all back treatments and exercises. Within a week I was 75% better. A few weeks later I was pretty much back to normal - although I was still taking paracetamol regularly - but now at least it made a difference to the pain. A few months later and the pain was basically non-existent and any residual pain would vanish if I simply ignored it. So it did work for me. It wasn't immediate and it took a lot of soul searching to really commit to the idea. But once I did, it worked. Now I read a lot of reviews that say this approach may work for 'unexplained' pain (i.e. you don't have a real, physical problem.) But I had the worst form of slipped disc and I got better pretty damn fast once I got my head around the concept that a slipped disc might not be causing the kind of pain I was in. I have a great deal of respect for those who have tried this book and not found it to be useful, but I do believe that the premise of the book is correct and that, once you have been cleared of any disease or immune disorder etc.. the cause of ongoing and chronic pain is emotional, not physical. So my advice, in a nutshell, would be: Go to a professional and get an opinion, an MRI if necessary, if there is any lingering concern that the pain is caused by disease. Then, once you have the all clear for anything truly serious, buy this book and read it. Not once but many times. Let it sink in. Then practise the exercises and daily reminders religiously. Don't give up after a few days if things aren't improving. Work at it. I cannot guarantee I will never have back pain again, but I'm pretty sure I now know what lies behind it. Like many thousands of other people I am incredibly grateful to John Sarno for this . I wish you luck.

Good one