Healthy Back Book: A Guide to Whole Healing for Outdoor Enthusiasts and Other Active People

Pujari and Alton have written a truly comprehensive book on managing back problems, and, as they say, "back pain is ultimately about management." (p. 80) Unfortunately, there is no quick fix, and they make that clear, even though it is not what we want to hear. Instead, what we need--and get--is a collection of information about back pain and many, many ways to make it better. I worked in a chronic pain program for seventeen years and taught some of these techniques. Others I learned about from my co-workers, but it was not until I developed my own serious back problem that I REALLY GOT IT! Try some things. If they help, keep doing them. If not, try something else. Special yoga exercises. How to lift. Pilates. Mindfulness meditation. Stress reduction techniques. Nutrition. Medications. It's work, but it works! My only negative comment on this fantastic book is that it is subtitled for active people rather than for EVERYONE. Thus, it does not come up early on the search list for back pain, and I feel sorry for the people who may miss out on its expertise and excellent advice!

Makes some interesting points, but I found it a bit lean in details. Specifically, I was looking for a good post-op book that would help me to rebuild in a better way. Still worth the read.

I am a psychotherapist specializing in the treatment of chronic pain.I have a doctorate in psychology and have been studying back pain since 1984. This is a rare book insofar as it's lens runs wide and deep across a controversial topic; the topic of back pain is surprisingly complex if you examine the field. If you ask "the experts" about chronic back pain, you will find almost as much of a range of opinions as you will in religion, politics and psychology! There are many well-intended, educated, and experienced clinicians who help some people, but unbeknownst to themselves, they have tunnel vision. Surgeons and chiropractors tend to stick with their theories and not be aware of others'. I happened to have lunched with 6 physicians in the last 2 weeks, some of them back pain specialists, and none of them had heard of Dr. John Sarno, author of "Mind Over Back Pain", who Andrew Weil endorses. Sarno himself is cocksure of his psychologically-based back pain theory, for example. In interviewing people about what has helped them, I have found some who were but many who were not helped by Sarno's method. So, it seems that clinicians, while they help some folks, are often unconsciously dogmatic and provincial. If you ask anyone comprehensively in the know about back pain, you will find acknowledgment of the multiplicity of methods that can help people and the unpredictability of who will be helped by what. This is the viewpoint expressed in The Healthy Back Book. It gives a good, brief, wide, and deep picture of how to get help. My only criticism, if you could call it that, is of the subtitle: this book is not only for outdoorsy and active people. It is one of the best current overviews of back pain treatment out there, and has the advantage of being short and concise as well as balanced. Charles Horowitz, Ph.D.

I was happily surprised at the focus of this book when I read it. It talks a lot about how you feel about back pain as well as what different types of back pain are. It talks about ways to think about back pain that take some of the stress away. It was surprising how using techniques in this book changed how I felt about a sore back and how that helped the sore back go away. I also liked the explanations of what different types of pain were and what could be done about them.I really recommend this book.

There are many books on the market about back pain, but this one is different. The authors have done an exceptional job of taking a very complex subject and whittling down all that information into a readable, easy to use book that will be helpful for anyone who suffers from chronic back pain. The Healthy Back Book is unique because it discusses alternative techniques for alleviating back pain, as well as the very important connection between pain and emotions. I highly recommend this book.

So much great information is packed into a nice concise well written book. The author did a great job of explaining all of the different aspects of back pain and options for self help, treatment and maintenance. It gave me the tools to better manage the situation and choose health care professionals as needed. I highly recommend this book.

This little book has great information covering all aspects of back health. It covers everything from exercises for back pain prevention and recovery to the latest research on medical intervention for back pain. It also covers many different alternative therapies. I would recommend it to everyone, even if you don't have back pain yet.