Healthy Living Books Books

Rating: - FIxed my back!
I had sometimes-better-sometimes-worse (but never gone) lower back pain for 10 years before I got this book. I had seen physiotherapists and done long (and boring!) regimes of exercises and stretches, done daily. They would alleviate the pain temporarily (long enough to get to sleep), but it was always back soon.

The simple and fast exercises in this book (along with a few gentle crunches) COMPLETELY did away with my back pain in under 2 months. I did the maintenance exercises (once a week) for another 6 months or so, then got lazy. Even without the exercises, it took 2 years for my back pain to come back. Now I've learned my lesson, have started the exercises again, and hopefully will be smart enough never to stop.

Although the part of the book with the exercises is brief, I found the explanations of the research support for this approach very interesting. Why can't more health-care professionals be this systematic?

So buy it, do it, it's easy and fast, and will help!

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Rating: - I found my cure!
As a back pain sufferer for 30+ years I've tried many types of therapies - chiropractors, doctors, massage, yoga, weights, accupuncture etcetera and NONE of them helped one bit. I would be laid low about 2-3 times per year with stabbing backpains brought on by spinal instability.
I was introduced to this book by a Physiotherapist friend and within three weeks I could feel the difference. I could feel that my lower back was more stable and strong.
It's now about three years since I read the book and I've had ONE small back ache incident since! One! Remember, I'd be laid out with two to three major incidents yearly. It's probably two years since I've had the slightest lower back discomfort. This book totally rules! I'm living proof.

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Rating: - No More Back Pain!
I have been doing the exercise recommended by this book for the past three weeks. I have had lower back problems on and off for over 25 years.

We have just had a blizzard which was followed by a storm two days later. I was out shovelling snow for several hours for several days in a row. In the past this would have led to severe lower back pain from all the lifting and twisting movements. Today I have no back pain at all! My back feels very strong and comfortable. I have just a bit of soreness in my shoulders from all the heavy lifting.

I have no idea if this exercise will help everyone with lower back pain but I can say it has improved my back condition by 100%. I can unreservedly recommend that anyone with lower back pain try this simple exercise which takes only a few minutes.

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Rating: - Important in the rehab of low back pain
As a physical therapist, I found that the information in this book is actually helpful and relevant for low back pain patients. It does provide the latest research on the multifidus and it's relation to back pain. Will the exercises here cure ALL back problems? No, but strengthening the multifidus as well as the abdominals is one of the key elements in the rehabilitation and management of low back pain. The information in this book is not at all "ignorant" as stated by a previous reviewer. I have used these exercises for my patients with good results.

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Rating: - Ignorant
As a chiropractor I can tell you that obviously this author does not know that the main spinal stabilizers in your back aren't under conscious control. YOU CANNOT STRENGTHEN THEM WITH STANDARD REHAB EXERCISES. The multifidus group aren't involved in stabilization and closed chain motion, but rather are functional in open chain motion. To put this in layman's terms, they are important when lifting stuff, but have little to do with posture and walking.....where muscle atrophy causes problems in back pain. To work THOSE muscles, you need to do it indirectly, for example, by doing balance exercises with a wobble board, or better yet, fix the bad habits that are at the root of the problem by the Alexander Technique. Additionally, most back pain is actually caused by chronic disc degeneration. The authority on how, why, and what to do about it is Cox's book, Low Back Pain. Do yourself a favor, see your chiropractor.