Product Description

This is the second edition of Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain, originally published in 1999. This is a companion book to Dr. Sarno's Mind Over Back Pain, Healing Back Pain, and The Mind Body Prescription. It provides an easy and effective step-by-step plan based on techniques used by Olympic athletes.

Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain Book is a unique and fascinating account of one man's search for a cure. You accompany the author as he searches, like a detective, for clues to solve the mystery of back and neck pain and share with him the joy of rapid recovery from months of pain and disability. You discover crucial research information as well as easy and effective strategies for rapid recovery. This book provides you the tools to design your own rapid recovery plan for a pain-free and active life.

Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain features:
. The revolutionary scientific discovery for the cause of most back, neck, and hand pain
. Crucial medical research that you are not likely to learn from most doctors or chiropractors
. The noninvasive university treatment program with a phenomenal success rate
. Case studies of people who have recovered rapidly and avoided surgery, including those with herniated or buldging disc and carpal tunnel syndrome
. Special section for designing your own rapid recovery plan
. Fascinating information on related research from major universities

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173829 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 282 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780966982619
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
This book gave me a detailed action program. I recovered from sciatica, stenosis, and herniated disc and cancelled the surgery. -- Allan J. Masison, Retired municipal accountant, Weymouth, Massachusetts

This book has literally saved the life of one of my patients. Truly effective and logical. I highly recommend it. -- Parvez Fatteh, M.D., Board Certified, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Castro Valley, California

This book will be an important addition to the literature on alternative medicine. Well researched and very readable. -- Judy McConnell, Director, Health, Welfare, Work/life Programs, Office of the President, University of California

About the Author
Fred Amir is the recipient of the University of California's Knowles Ryerson Award for Leadership, a registered environmental health specialist, and the founder and president of Health Solutions.

Health Solutions is a health consulting and educational firm specializing in empowering individuals with knowledge and strategies to maximize their innate abilities for better health. Fred's seminars, titled Rapid Recovery from Chronic Pain, The Road to Wellness, and Living by Design, have helped others recover rapidly to live pain-free and much healthier and happier lives. Fred has conducted seminars for University of California, Office of the President; CIGNA Group Insurance; Iowa State University; and other organizations.

Fred is an avid reader who believes in life-long learning and is a student of martial arts, having studied kenpo karate and tae kwon do. He lives with his wife and two children in the greater San Jose area.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction

Rapid recovery from back and neck pain?! Sounds too good to be possible. But it is. I know, because I have experienced this phenomenon firsthand. After months of suffering from chronic pain in my back, neck, legs, knees, arms, and hands, and total disability-after months of going from one doctor to another with no cure in sight-I was able to recover within four days to live an active and productive life. Others with recurrent or chronic pain have also experienced this rapid recovery following the proven techniques described in this book.

This book provides you with the scientific research on the cause of most back, neck, and hand pain and shows how you can get rid of the pain quickly and easily. Those who have attended my seminars on rapid recovery from chronic pain and have applied these techniques have noticed significant improvements within a few hours to a few days, and complete recovery shortly afterward.

Skeptical? A healthy dose of skepticism is a good thing. I am very scientific-minded and skeptical myself. When I'm presented with new ideas and new possibilities, though, I do my best to keep an open mind-especially when it comes to my health. I ask you to do the same. Question what you read, but be open to new possibilities. The only way you are ever going to get well is to take charge of this debilitating condition, by learning all you can about it and being willing to take action. Indeed, knowledge is power!

If you suffer from chronic or recurrent back, neck, or hand pain, you know how difficult it can be to find a cure. If you are frustrated, as I was, by the ineffective treatments you have received and want to live a pain-free life again, this book will show you how. It takes you along on my search, like a detective's, for clues to solve the mystery of my back pain-a mystery because back pain baffles even doctors and surgeons who specialize in treating it. The frustrated patients of these back pain specialists, instead of getting answers or effective treatment, may hear: "Well, that's how back pain is!" Or worse: "You just have to learn to live with it."

In contrast, this book will tell you about the revolutionary discovery and treatment program from New York University and give you a nine-step rapid recovery plan made up of easy yet highly effective techniques used by Olympic athletes.

BACK FACTS KEPT SECRET!

If you have read the back-pain literature, you have probably come across the following facts:
* Eight out of ten adults suffer from back pain at some point in their lives.
* Back problems are second only to sore throat as this nation's most common ailment.
* Nineteen million doctor visits are made for back pain annually.
* Eight million new cases of back pain occur every year.
* Back pain is the leading cause of work-related disability.

As I searched the medical literature for information on back pain, however, I discovered some very amazing statistics-statistics rarely found in books on back pain and usually not mentioned by back specialists. Did you know the following surprising facts?
* "Surgery has been found to be helpful in only 1 in 100 cases of low back pain. In some people, surgery can even cause more problems." So concluded the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after conducting a comprehensive study of more than 10,000 cases of back pain.1 Even though I knew back surgery was not a very effective treatment for most people, I was a little shocked to learn that 99 percent of the time it fails to help patients.
* "Injecting methylyprednisolone acetate [cortisone] into the facet joints is of little value in the treatment of patients with chronic low back pain." This was the conclusion of a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.2 Researchers found no significant improvement in patients who received a cortisone shot compared to those who were given a shot of saline solution (salt water) in their facet joints or herniated discs!3
* "Treatments [for whiplash-associated disorders] evaluated in a rigorous manner show little or no evidence of efficacy." This finding was the result of an exhaustive study conducted at McGill University.4

Researchers found treatments ranging from neck collar to traction to be of little or no value. 5

Even though these surprising facts have appeared in some of the most authoritative and prestigious medical journals, you will not learn this crucial information from most back and neck specialists, inside or outside the medical profession. Indeed, these treatments are used so widely that you may be shocked to learn that they don't work! So take a minute to read over these conclusions of respected medical experts again, to empower yourself to make better decisions regarding your treatment options and avoid ineffective surgeries and shots.

Why is it that conventional treatments fail to cure back and neck pain? Because, as The New England Journal of Medicine puts it, "Up to 85 percent of patients with low back pain cannot be given a definitive diagnosis."7 That's right-up to 85 percent! No wonder most of these treatments fail. As the saying goes, "Correct diagnosis is half the cure!" Without the right diagnosis, how can we expect an effective treatment? As you will see in this section, according to the published scientific research most of the common diagnoses for chronic back pain are unfounded.

You can already see that this book is unique in its approach to back pain. But my aim in this book is not simply to help you avoid useless treatments. In addition, the book provides you with empowering concepts and effective techniques for a rapid and complete recovery. Just imagine being free of pain: moving freely without pain as your guide; sitting and sleeping comfortably; feeling young and healthy again. These are some of the many wonderful benefits I and many others have enjoyed, and I believe you will too.

Customer Reviews

Very helpful!!!
Before starting my review, let me say that I am a particle physicist and a quite skeptical guy. Nonetheless, I think it is important to be open to new ideas. In my opinion, the work of Dr. Sarno and his followers is great science. Like most important and revolutionary scientific ideas, it takes a while (one generation, Planck said) before they are generally accepted by the scientific community. But we can profit from their insight inmediatly!

This book, together with the ones by Sarno and some info on the web, has made my life worth living again. It is amazing how many different manifestation this TMS thing seems to have. My problem was not back pain, but a condition urologists classify as non-bacterial prostatitis, neurologists as pudendal nerve entrapment, musculo-skeletal therapists as coccydynia, physiotherapists as piriformis syndrome, ... (by the way, many of these doctors suggested surgery was the only solution, even if they did not really know what was going on!). At any rate, the physical symptons were real and the pain excruciating. And the worst was that I could hardly work or lead a normal life.

When I started reading Sarno's books, I found them very interesting and even believed that his ideas could help other people... but not me. It took me three months to accept that my (unconcious) mind could be doing these nasty things to me. But suddenly there was a click inside me and I felt strongly that the answer was inside my brain. And I also felt that my (concious) mind could control it. In three weeks I was 90% better. But I found it hard to progress to a 100% recovery.

It was here that Fred Amir's simple psychological techniques were extremely helpful. Before I had finished the book, I was 99% OK!
I should add that I love the way the book is written: it is very enjoyable and creates a lot of empathy, which is also helpful.

Now I can say I am "cured" of this protatitispudendalnerve... horrible thing. Furthermore, I have also recovered from my "lazy stomach" problem, which apparently had the same origin. And last but not least, I have a great feeling of power and control over my life and my health.

I am convinced that TMS (and equivalents) is, as Dr. Sarno claims, a very widespread problem, and that many people could benefit a lot from getting a correct diagnosis. Amir's book describes the practical side of Sarno's theory.

For Sarno disciples & other chronic pain sufferers - a must!
Fred Amir has drawn on Dr John E Sarno's principles of chronic pain management (see: "Healing Back Pain - The Mind-Body Connection") which, combined with the experience of his personal ordeal and research into natural healing techniques, forms a potent recovery formula. I had chronic back pain for 15 months and painful feet for 5 months. I was disabled. The back progressed well over six weeks under the Sarno principles but plateaued. Fred Amir's book gave me more tangible strategies to work with and I have achieved significant improvement in two weeks, for both back and feet. Like Sarno..it works,only better..get both!

It really works!
I was diagnosed with a herniated disc (L5 S1)and my Orthopedist said I would never be the same. At the time I was lifting weights and running 3 times a week. The Dr. told me that those activities will have to be significantly modified due the the herniation.He scheduled me for Cortisone shots in my back to eliminate the swelling thus reduce the pain. Just one caveat, I could very easily irritate it once again If I return to my vigorous lifestyle. The day before I was scheduled for my treatment I was told about Dr. Sarno's book, and after doing some research discovered Fred Amir's book as well, so I bought them both. I pushed off the treatment to give these books a shot. I first read Dr. Sarno's book which gave me an understanding of his theory, then proceeded to read Fred Amir's book which helped turn theory into reality. I had read another review which said that the person experienced relief as he was reading the book and I laughed, but I did too. The next morning I went back to my old routine of running outside and in the beginning there was pain (Nobody says the pain is not real) but I fought thru it and within a few days I was pain free. I do have occasional flare ups but if you go back to the principals of the book the pain disappears. Give the book a chance, and don't be so skeptical.Thank You Fred!