Have you ever had an upset stomach before an important meeting, frequent headaches at work, or back pain so bad you can’t concentrate on anything else besides how much it hurts? I’ve suffered from ALL of these and MORE for years, with back pain and neck tension being the most intense and discomforting for me in the last 8 months.
Recently I learned the most simple, and pure genius method of how to cure back pain in addition to many other health issues. I’m determined to spread the word about the M.D. who explained it all to me because my results have been fantastic and I want help you benefit too!
Untemplate Your Views On Pain And Its Causes
The doctor who opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at medicine, pain, and health is Dr. John E. Sarno. Maybe a few of you have heard of him but I’m guessing the majority of you have not. He is almost 90 years old, a Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU’s School of Medicine, has his own private practice in NYC, and looks like an adorable, happy version of the grandpa in the movie Up.
And you know what’s neat? I’ve never even met this doc in person! So how could I learn how to cure back pain and my other health issues without ever having actually been treated by Dr. Sarno in person? His books! My favorites are Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection, and The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders.
And I’m not joking around here. I know some of you are probably skeptical, thinking I’m full of bologna for suggesting books could actually give you the knowledge to cure your own physical pain and ailments, but please hear me out!
Look Past The Lab And Into Your Life
I’ve seen all sorts of normal, everyday doctors my whole life. They told me exactly what I was suffering from, what caused it, some medicine to treat it, and that was that. There’s not much to question when you get the flu from a virus going around, sprain your ankle from tripping over an uneven surface, have sore muscles from carrying 30 pound boxes all day, or get covered in a rash after walking through a patch of poison ivy.
But what if there is no obvious, identifiable cause to what’s ailing you, especially if it’s pain or muscle related? I had sudden onset back and neck pain, fibromyalgia, IBS, vertigo, and frequent headaches at various times over the last 3-5 years and my visits to the doctor only resulted in a ton of prescriptions (which didn’t help), more questions than answers, and typical suggestions for me to get more sleep and exercise. These doctors only used lab results and x-rays to explain what was going on with me. I was in my 20’s when these things started popping up, and it was concerning.
Your Brain Is Extremely Clever And Wants You To Feel Pain
When one of my ailments mysteriously started to go away, another one cropped up in its place, but my back pain was the most severe. I was so convinced that there was something wrong with my body that I never even considered there was something wrong with my mind. I wasn’t imagining my symptoms, but I failed to realize that I was going through a lot emotionally at each of those times. Little did I know those troubles were affecting me physically.
Dr. Sarno explains the mind body connection in his books way better than I can, so I’m not going to get into much detail here, but the fundamental concepts of his books are that our emotions can and do cause physical pain and ailments. Our minds are so clever that they distract us from coping with our emotions by triggering pain and other health problems. The video at the bottom is also quite helpful in understanding all of this.
Pain Is Socially Accepted As Normal
Life can be really challenging at times, and if we don’t work through what’s bothering us emotionally, especially if we have repressed anger and a lot of stress, our brain will make us suffer more and more by triggering Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) and other problems. TMS is most commonly experienced as lower back pain, but can be felt anywhere in the back, neck, or shoulders. I had it primarily in my upper back and neck.
Back pain, ulcers, tendonitis, carpel tunnel, and even fibromyalgia are chronic problems in our country and it annoys me they are socially accepted as normal and commonly occurring conditions, unlike their underlying emotional causes. For example, if you take a day off of work because you have a physical ailment, that’s not going to raise any eyebrows. But if you take a day off to deal with stress and emotional issues, people view that differently and some may even accuse you of slacking off and being weak.
Identify Everything That Is Weighing You Down Emotionally
If you’re experiencing chronic back pain, or some of the other health issues I’ve mentioned, please read Dr. Sarno’s books, especially Healing Back Pain. As soon as I accepted his concepts, read people’s testimonials, and admitted that both of my intense episodes with back pain last year happened at times when I was at heightened stress levels, my pain started to melt away. I still have aches in my back here and there, but I’m able to shut off the pain within a few minutes when I feel it creeping back because each time it has tried to return I knew I was struggling with stress and other anxieties.
Simply acknowledging my emotions and letting them go has been my cure, a completely free and natural “medicine” that I have full control of. My other bouts with vertigo, IBS, fibromyalgia, and frequent headaches are also completely gone since reading Dr. Sarno’s books! I’ve also been actively helping my mother decrease her pain with this same method as she has a laundry list of physical issues and unsurprisingly a mountain of anxiety and emotional traumas to work through.
I’m A Believer And Hope You Will Be Too
It is not very often that I can say a book changed my life, but Healing Back Pain really did and I wish I had read it a lot sooner. A big shout out to Sam from Financial Samurai who first suggested the book to me when he heard I was struggling with a recurrence of back pain this past December.
In fact, if it weren’t for Sam’s insistence that I read Healing Back Pain, I probably wouldn’t have checked it out or fully understood his personal experience being fully cured of chronic lower back pain and tendonitis. I’m a believer now because my own pain is cured too!
Understand that your pain may not be cured in a day and it may take weeks or even months if you have deep emotional issues to work through, and not every type of pain or illness can be cured with this method. I’m not a doctor either, and take no responsibility for your actions or results, so please consult a medical professional if you have ailments. If you do take the time to read Dr. Sarno’s books and follow his guidance though, I think you will be thrilled and quite relieved with the results!
His books are all available for purchase on Amazon: Healing Back Pain, and The Divided Mind.
Untemplaters, have you ever suffered from severe back pain? What do you think of Dr. Sarno’s research and the mind body connection? Is your brain currently giving you aches and pains so it can distract you from dealing with stress and other emotions?
Ok, I’m sold. I’m going to check this book out this weekend. I’ve been having back pains, and have considered seeing a chiropractor or get some acupuncture. B
I hope it will help you Kevin! It really changed my life and it’s very rare that I can say that about a book. Our brains sure can be tricky and I can’t believe I put myself through so much physical misery.
The 3 best methods for alleviating back pain symptoms is 1. Like Robert said – Get a decent mattress! Cash being the only obstacle! 2. Posture. Sit properly, don’t slouch! 3. Back strengthening exercises – Simple regular exercises will in time alleviate many common back pain symptoms. Strengthening the muscles is key.
The only time I get back pain is when I sleep on a crappy bed! I do hold my stress in my back, but I know how to cope with that most of the time.
Wow, I’m gonna recommend this to my girlfriend; she has recurring muscle pains on one side that might come from posture at work but might also come from stress, too.
Yes please encourage her to read it! It has made such a difference in my life I want everyone who is suffering from pain to check it out because we can out smart our brains and cure those pains. Hey that rhymes, 🙂 Bad posture can aggravate TMS muscle pains and the pains will keep coming back even if posture is corrected until stress and other underlying emotional burdens are addressed. I’m on the computer 12+ hours a day some days and thank goodness now I’m pain free.
I like this quote, “It annoys me they are socially accepted as normal and commonly occurring conditions, unlike their underlying emotional causes. For example, if you take a day off of work because you have a physical ailment, that’s not going to raise any eyebrows. But if you take a day off to deal with stress and emotional issues, people view that differently and some may even accuse you of slacking off and being weak.”
You’re right! If we can accept that stress and emotional issues are as COMMON AS DAY, we will start healing quicker and better.
That quote stood out to me too, Sam, because it is so true. People think you are mentally unbalanced or weak if you take a day off to deal with stress, but no one bats an eye at physical pain.
I have a terrible problem with grinding my teeth. I have to wear a special mouth guard, but I have even put holes in that over time! I will check out these books thanks to the strong endorsement.
It’s interesting that such a high percentage of his patients reported positive results! I don’t think I’ve heard of a doctor going this route before – there’s not much extra money in it for him, besides book sales (vs repeated visits, expensive prescriptions, etc).
Your brain is powerful, and this makes me think of the people with “phantom pain”, where they lose a limb but still feel pain as if it were there – sounds crazy, but it’s true! I’ve always thought I had a pretty high pain tolerance, maybe I’m good at telling my brain to stop without thinking about it.. lol.
That’s because it really works! I don’t even think he prescribes medicine because it’s not needed. People with severely debilitating conditions go to see him in person or get his lectures on disc, but for the rest of us, simply reading his book and then looking inwards and working through things is all it takes.
That’s a good point about phantom pain. I’ve heard stories about that happening and can’t imagine how weird that must be. I’m sure the trauma of the event that lead to losing a limb would cause the brain to create the same type of pain distraction as TMS.
You’re fortunate to have a high pain tolerance and to already be good at outsmarting your brain! 🙂
When I began writing for a living, I had huge pain. Then, after some reading, I invested in a better chair and keyboard. I also raised the level of my monitor. For awhile, this was great.
Lately, though, I’ve had back pain and it doesn’t seem to be related to my computer work. After your post, I’m nearly certain it’s stress related. Two trips to my doc have done nothing (I hate the muscle relaxers because I just want to sleep all day….). Thanks for the tip on the book. I’m definitely reading it ASAP.
I did the whole ergonomic desk setup changes too!! It worked for a little but when my pain came back with a vengance I couldn’t blame it on my posture or workstation any more.
I can’t believe so many doctors I went to see just wanted to pump me up with drugs. Thank goodness I got wise and stopped filling those prescriptions. I’m so glad you’re gonna check out the book!! Face your stress, tell your brain to stop manifesting your back pain and soon you will realize all your pain is gone! Best of luck!
I never thought of pain that way, but your post has been fascinating Sydney!
I hadn’t either until I read his books and I couldn’t stop thinking “Wow his concepts are so simple and they make so much sense. Why didn’t I realize this before?!”. Humans are so complex that ignoring the impact of our emotions on health is silly. Emotions are powerful and affect our lives in so many ways that how could they not affect our health? Thanks for reading MC!
That’s a pretty strong endorsement from you and Sam. I’ve been getting lower back pain recently from blogging so much, but I can’t deny that a stress connection is probably there. I will have to check this out before it gets worse.
When I first started getting back pain last year I thought it was entirely due to being on the computer too much and having bad posure. While being hunchbacked wasn’t helping me, my pain was all coming from my stress of juggling so many more things than I was used to and feelig like I never had enough time to do everything I felt I should each day. Now that I have found a better balance and acknowldge my stress straight on, my focus is on my work and living life instead of pain. My brain was so good at distracting me with pain and other physical symptoms since my subconscious was trying to avoid thinking about all the stuff that was stressing me out. I hope you’ll be able to fight off your pain because blogging with back pain is utterly awful. Best of luck and let us know how your results are!
This is something I really need to check out. I was rear-ended and have extreme lower back and neck pains. I go to the doctor and of course there solution is come back to see them and spend more money on meds that dont work or go see a chiropractor. What a waste. Like Sam I have a hard time driving, sitting and working at a desk.
Hi Thomas. I’m sorry to hear about your accident and your pain. I know how it feels to be in so much pain you can’t think about anything else. It’s crazy how clever our brains are at making us suffer just to distract us from things going on in our lives and our emotions. I hope you will read Healing Back Pain and benefit from Dr Sarno’s principles. My life will never be the same since I learned to outsmart myself from triggering all those physical ailments. Keep in mind that your spine already had normal abnormalities before your accident too. Best of luck and let us know how your results are after reading Healing Back Pain!
It’s the most incredible, and life changing book I have ever read. It has healed my lower back pain, numbness in my legs, tennis elbow (i had for 11 months until I re-read the book and saw a chapter on tendonitis and tennis elbow!!!), and the occasional TMJ.
The lower back pain was 10 years ago. I could not drive or sit comfortable for more than several minutes. This lasted for 1-2 years until I read the book.
The tennis elbow was all 2011 until last month! Of course, we should all stretch, do some yoga, limber up, exercise to stay fit to prevent injuries. However, chronic pain is in the mind!
Thank you thank you thank you for getting me to read his books! I admit I was a little hestitant to read it but my pain got so bad and trips to the chiropractor only gave me temporary relief and sometimes the adjustments seemed to cause more sorrness.
I am so glad your tendonitis is gone, wow!! It is such a relief to know and experience being cured of all those aches and pains. I totally fell for my chiropractor telling me I had several problems with my spine and believed I would have pain until they were fixed. We all have normal abnormalities in our spine as Dr Sarno says and we can be pain free without surgery or expensive injections and treatments! Thanks agaim Sam!