help for lower back pain - SARNO

[Guest guest]

FBL -<br><br>Thanks for your posts on Sarno. You

have caused me to reread the book (Healing Back Pain)

from cover to cover. I think I understand his message

better and I learned a lot from the book. I still don't

totally agree with him. There is a very important aspect

of human health which I sometimes call "the missing

link", as it seems to be universally ignored. This is

the ability of the human body to store DEEP CHRONIC

tension, which manifests as misalignment of the

musculoskeletal system and can cause all sorts of conditions.

There is a mountain of literature on this, though it is

outside the mainstream (Rolf, Feldenkrais, Alexander,

Lowen, Wilhelm Reich, etc.). This is also covered

thoroughly in the vast and ancient science of yoga. It is

accepted that the the mind and body are interrelated.

Sarno does not seem to understand or acknowledge deep

chronic tension. His references to the mind-body

connection are all from the world of modern medicine, which

as he explains, is still operating on DeCarte's

theories of the complete separation of body and mind. He

seems to think he has discovered something new in the

fact that the mind can influence the body. As for pain

being caused by repressed emotions, that is his basic

message, repeated throughout the book. He says that

repressed emotions (especially anger) cause the brain to

restrict oxygen to certain muscles to produce pain as a

distraction and that this pain can be treated just by

becoming aware of this process. There may be something to

this (probably a lot) but I think he goes too far in

applying his theories to virtually any condition involving

muscular tension. I may check out his newer book, The

Mind-Body Prescription, which I think goes into the

psychology a little more. I looked at Amazon and found 147

customer reviews for Healing Back Pain, mostly favorable.

I didn't read them all but one that stood out was a

yoga teacher who was in good shape but being careful

of a back condition. Sarno convinced her it was all

in her head so she stopped babying her back and is

still recovering from the damage. I think his books can

be dangerous for many people. He does have a lot of

very interesting ideas and raises a lot of issues for

modern medicine to deal with. He may supply some useful

clues for many, but I don't find his theories to be as

well-developed as he thinks they are. Interesting subject

though, still makin' me think.....