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Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection?
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Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection https://www.amazon.ca/dp/153871261X/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_TJ8XWWNQ803C4M4J826M
I would highly encourage anyone with fibromyalgia or any other chronic pains to read this book by Dr. Sarno.
It changed my life.
There is a pretty popular book about back pain and it basically explains that back pain is all in your head.
Check out the reviews... The brain is a very complex machine.
Everyone here with back pain - even with very real structural causes! Stay away from surgery... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healing-Back-Pain-Reissue-Connection/dp/153871261X/ref=sr\_1\_1?crid=2XMBN0VY81ACM&keywords=healing+back+pain&qid=1640967384&sprefix=healing+back+pain%2Caps%2C67&sr=8-1
What are your thoughts on the mind body connection and its influence on inflammation? In particular, there have been studies showing that when the mind does not want to deal with emotions, it represses them, and instead, causes a pain in the body to distract the mind from dealing with the emotion. The pain can present itself through a disease and be chronic as well causing people to get unnecessary operations and such. The book is called "Healing back pain: The mind body connection" and the author is John E. Sarno.
I am really curious of what you think. Many people have had there pain disappear immediately through knowledge therapy on this and confronting their repressed emotions.
My story, in case it provides insight for your own, with apologies for the lack of brevity:
High school athlete, shitty form on everything, but young, strong and dumb. Diagnosed at 17 with likely herniation at L4-L5 after repeated bouts of moderate to severe pain, sciatica, spasms, etc. Spent three years seeking every kind of non-surgical treatment - physio, PT, chiro, acupuncture, traction, etc. You name it, I did it. Nothing worked, and my activity slowly crept down to zero.
MRI at 20 confirmed L4-L5 herniation, and showed bulges at L3-L4 and L5-S1, stenosis from L4 down, degeneration and the first signs of arthritis. In frustration, went to a surgeon who (of course) recommended surgery. This was in the late 1980's so arthroscopic spinal surgery was just starting to be a thing, and my surgeon didn't recommend it. So we did things the old fashioned way - 6" incision, discectomy and laminectomy, without fusion. Sewed me back up, and I spent 3 months with very limited movement and another 6 months in rehab. All before I turned 21. Felt fine for a couple of years, but followed the good doctor's orders and never picked up anything heavier than a quart of milk, was super focused on movement quality, no impact movements, lots of core work, etc.
By the time I was 25, it all came roaring back - same pain, worse sciatica, "confirmed" nerve damage down both legs, lots of days I couldn't get out of bed, even more where I couldn't stand up straight. Went through everything again - physios, PT, chiro, acupuncture, etc. Even saw a "healer" it was so terrible. MRI showed all the old stuff, sans herniation since the disc was no longer there to herniate. I was desperate but unwilling to undergo another surgery. Just lived a pretty miserable existence, especially for a 20-something living in NYC in the late 90's.
Through a friend of a friend I managed to connect with Dr. John Sarno. He's dead now, but back then I secured an appointment out of sheer desperation - I kinda-sorta knew his MO and found it silly, but figured I had nothing to lose and was willing to try anything. He looked at my collection of MRIs and X-rays, he looked at me and how I moved and he confidently declared that there was nothing wrong with my back that would cause the pain I'm in and I should simply forget all about it, read his book (which he gave me), and told me I should leave his office and never come back.
I read his book and dismissed it as claptrap, and continued to suffer. After a few more months of near constant pain, I read his book again, and then one more time. Something clicked and after a few weeks, I woke up without any pain. None. Not a bit.
Fast forward three decades - I'm a CFer in my mid-50's, I jump and run and swing heavy KBs, squat heavy and toss big sandbags. I clean 200#+, deadlift 300#+ (that's 90+ and 140+ kilos), and while my form is generally good, it's not always perfect. Do I get injured sometimes? Sure, but I heal quickly and don't stop moving. But there is zero chronic back pain, zero sciatica, zero leg weakness or other symptoms from nerve damage. I do zero focused core work (well, I do lots of core work, but it's not focused on reducing back pain). The spinal instability and stenosis (and by now arthritis) are still there, but they don't cause any symptoms, and now I understand they never did.
For me, it took a profound level of desperation and years of suffering and exhausting every type of therapy available before I understood what was actually causing my chronic pain and how to address it. You might be nearing that point, and for about $10 (in the US), you can get his book off Amazon. Maybe it's a bit more where you are. If you made it this far into my post, my strong recommendation is to pick up Sarno's book and read it (he actually has a bunch that basically say the same thing, and the one I linked above seems the best but may not have been the one I read way back when). You'll likely dismiss it as nonsense, but sooner or later, you'll think about it again and re-read it. One day, hopefully sooner rather than later, it'll just make sense and you'll never need to post about chronic pain solutions again. Good luck.
"Another person just told me that they had their RSI cured by Sarno's techniques: https://amazon.com/Healing-Back-Pain-Mind-Body-Connection/dp/153871261X. While it sounds like preposterous woo, it has worked in 4/4 cases of people I personally know trying it. (One account: https://aaroniba.net/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.))"
- Patrick Collison
Source: https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1559737765566173185
That's a literal billionaire and probably one of the smartest people on the planet telling you that there may be some merit to Sarno's ideas based on his own appraisal of them and anecdotal observations. For those unfamiliar with him, Patrick Collison is incredibly thoughtful and not at all someone who would do this lightly.
Mayo and other medical bodies are developing a model of chronic pain conditions that posits they are predominantly neurologically-mediated (as opposed to acute).
Whether or not it Sarno's ideas work with CFS is, of course, a separate matter.
If you're at the point of surgery, you're probably ready to read this. Hippy dippy and total fixed my "collapsed disk and nerve damage".
https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Back-Pain-Mind-Body-Connection/dp/153871261X
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