Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection Mass Market Paperback – February 27, 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 Reminders1. 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.

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.

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.

I read this book nearly 20 years ago and my life changed. I had suffered ten years of crippling back pain and had travelled the world looking for the answer. Refused back surgery thank God! as I was too scared it would further cripple me. And yes, I did have real back damage caused by a 20 foot fall when skateboarding, landed on my head and was unconscious for 3 days. Also fell down a mountain when skiing and crushed 2 upper vertebrae. Also beaten up and had two broken ribs where they connect to spine. I could go on but that's probably enough. Reading this book has allowed me to lead a healthy and active life. It's amazing how many people respond with "ah yes but I have REAL back pain" when I suggest they read it. There are none so blind as those who will not see.

This worked for me! I am now free of back pain which has plagued me for 7 years. Not only this my Carpel Tunnel Syndromme CTS (hands/fingers going numb in the night - waking me up EVERY night - surgery proposed for both wrists) has also stopped. I saw a comment about Sarnos work around Easter, spent 2 weeks reading up on TMS - TMS WIki (forum), Healing Wall of Victory(youtube), Steve Ozanich etc. You listen to peoples stories and how TMS knowledge made them pain free, some of these people had been bedridden. You know these peoples stories are real because of the amount of detail they go into. You have to acknowledge that your brain is causing the pain, through supressed emotions and stress. I am a pretty laid back person, so this was difficult to acknowledge, but ultimately true. You have to convince yourself this is the truth, you read many peoples stories, you stop going to the osteo/chiro, using cushions, massage, stretches!!! I felt liberated. There is nothing wrong with my back, yes I have herniations but as we age everyones bodies deteriorate but not everyone has back pain. My herniations were not causing the pain, as I no longer have any pain. It took 3 weeks for the back pain to go and aprox another 3 weeks for all my CTS to stop. From what I have read this can help many other illnesses - migraines, stomach issues. This should be general knowledge not something it takes years to find out about.

I have had excruciating sciatica since November 2018, which I put down to a problem with an osteoarthritic hip which was operated on last week. I had been seeing an osteopath and prior to that chiropractor for the sciatica in my ‘good leg’ with limited success Having had a total hip replacement last week I thought the sciatica would ease. Unfortunately it came back with avengeance. In desperation I started to read John Sarnos book given to me by my brother months previously. Within the first few chapters my pain had started to subside. A week later it has almost totally disappeared. Nothing short of a miracle. I would recommend that anyone experiencing pain should read this. I can only vouch for sciatica, but it is such a relief to be pain free.

I read this book after a recent episode of back spasms coincided with a very stressful time, and i wondered if the two could be linked. I have had back pain for 9 years after 2 herniated discs (confirmed by MRI scans at the time and last year again) but this recent incident was triggered by stress, I was sure. I read this book and it described me to a T, and confirmed what I suspected. He raises some very good points, like why, when homo sapiens have been walking upright for millions of years, we have suddenly developed a problem with our back in the past few decades, especially when things should be getting easier due to the multitude of lift/pushing/pulling aids we have at our disposal? Read this book - it will open your eyes to a whole new way of thinking, and just possible, a life of less pain!

Excellent work from Dr John E Sarno. I bought a copy 18 months back and whist reading my back pain of some 15 years was gone and no problems since. True to Dr Sarno teachings I will state here that it will never return again, so it won’t. I never finished the book. If you believe his teaching will work for you then you are correct and if you think it won’t then again you will be correct. Bought this second copy for a family member who has some back pain.