Product Description

Do you have back, neck, or shoulder pain that keeps recurring or won't go away? Does back pain keep you from living a full life? If so, you may be suffering from TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome)-and you don't have to take it anymore!Dr. John E. Sarno is a medical pioneer whose mind-body approach has helped patients overcome their back conditions-without drugs or dangerous surgery. After indentifying stress and other psychological factors in back pain, he demonstrates how many of his patients have then gone on to heal themselves without exercise or other physical therapy. With case histories and the results of in-depth mind-body research, Dr. Sarno describes how patients recognize the emotional roots of their TMS and sever the connections between mental and physical pain.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #516485 in Books
• Published on: 1999-12-14
• Formats: Abridged, Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio Cassette

From Amazon.com
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

From Library Journal
This best seller was first published in 1991, but no one ever bid for the audio rights. Now, Sarno will narrate his own work.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
As a cause of back pain, tension myositis syndrome (TMS) is much more common than all of the mechanical diagnoses typically offered. The author says TMS is mild oxygen deprivation in certain groups of muscles due to stress, and especially the stress of repressing anger. Rather than limiting movement to avoid pain, the author recommends we move normally to reclaim the harmony between mind and body that is needed for healing. Though Sarno's ideas make some sense, his blustery assertiveness is often more prominent than his reasoning. He also attributes a wide range of ailments to TMS and says little about how blocked emotions cause this syndrome. Still, this is a reasonably good lesson for anyone frustrated by the typical medical approaches to back pain. T.W. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Initially a skeptic
I was suffering from back pain last year, at the age of 29, and a friend of mine recommended this book to me. I didn't really understand it, basically my friend was saying my pain wasn't physical, I didn't believe it, didn't the CT scan show there was an actualy problem?! Well after 7 months of pain and nothing working for me I grabbed this book from the library and flew through it in a weekend. Even while reading it I was skeptical. My pain couldn't be caused by stress, it couldn't be caused by emotions, I am a stable and happy person. But then I took stock of my life, started to examine the times the back pain came up, the times it felt better. Three days later my back pain was gone. It has now been 7 months and I haven't felt any pain since, I have stopped taking all pain killers, muscle relaxers, spending tons of time and money on physiotherapy. I would recommend this, or any of Dr Sarno's other books, for everyone to read whether suffering or not, just to provide a new perspective on things, it really did change my life.

This book will change your painful life. Drugs are not the answer - this book is!
This book is fantastic. If you are a skeptic, you need to read this book. If you are in chronic pain, you need to read this book. If you have been let down by the medical industry or "milked" by holistic practitioners, you NEED to read this book. I am a practicing Hypnotherapist who has healed himself using this book, many of my Toronto area clients have been helped tremendously by my incorporation of this book into my practice of pain control and elimination. My personal experience with this book and Dr.Sarno's other books have become the cornerstone for my "Helping Hand Hypnosis" strategy of defeating chronic pain and TMS manifestations such as Tinitus, Carpul Tunnel Syndrome, Tendinitis etc. Everyone experiences some form of mindbody disorder in their life at sometime, be it headache, stomache ache, "nerves", allergies or harmless, transient symptoms like blushing. Until the medical community can explain the mechanics of blushing, don't be so eager to dispell the information in this insightful and marvellous book. Your doctor is missing the picture, as is your chiropractor, physiotherapist etc. DRUGS ARE NOT THE ANSWER!! THis book is!! Buy it, read it again and again. YOU WILL BE PAIN FREE-it just takes understanding and a little effort on your part. Anyone giving this book a poor review is ignorant in the most harmless sense of the word. Everyone I have recommended this book to or seen as a Helping Hand Hypnosis Hypnotherapy client HAS MADE DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENTS. This is no placebo, (unlike passive therapies) - this is the answer. Buy this book, invest in your total relief from Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Migraines, Reflux etc etc. Sound too good to be true? Read it and be liberated.

Great
This book was very hepful to me for understanding just how important the mind and pain are connected to each other. While going in and out of pain for years, no one could truly explain why to me- this book did.I highly recomend for exercises- The Backsmart Fitness Plan by Dr.Adam Weiss- an excellent source with over 100 exercises and photos in detail from stretches to weight training and core exercises to help tone and shape your body without suffering from pain. Both books have helped me alot.