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GOODBYE BACK PAIN by Leonard J. Faye

GOODBYE BACK PAIN

: A Sufferers' Guide to Full Back Recovery, Second Edition

by Leonard J. Faye

Pub Date: June 4th, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4196-9144-7

A chiropractor shares his thoughts about the causes of back pain and the way to treat it.

In this helpful, easy-to-use guide, Faye offers lessons he’s learned from his 40 years of experience as a practicing chiropractor. He opens with a brazen introduction–his goal is to completely shift the paradigm of back treatment away from focusing on spine realignment and toward balancing muscles and movement. Faye believes the body’s ability to counteract injury is not always to its advantage and can start a dangerous cycle. He begins with an explanation of the spine’s construction and mechanics, then delves into the four main causes of back pain–mechanical, degenerative, systemic and stress-induced. The author then explains what each cause entails and how it develops, allowing the reader to peg what ails them. The book takes patients’ right-to-know further, its aim to empower back-pain sufferers so that they can escape the trap of impatient, unsympathetic doctors and better diagnose themselves, hopefully discovering more successful styles of treatment. To that end, the next chapter includes a helpful self-assessment and series of tests, informed by the medical explanations of the previous section. Faye then gives quick descriptions of various treatments and providers. At times, the writing is too political and biased toward his ideas of proper back care. However, he provides a helpful introduction to what’s available in the medical community today. In keeping with the holistic tone of the book, the last chapter is a guide to relaxation and techniques aimed at easing muscle tension. The book is loaded with helpful diagrams of back anatomy and proper stretching techniques. Faye’s thorough, step-by-step approach, combined with his confident yet alternative theories, make this a valuable guide for those with back conditions.

Methodical and compassionate, a boon for back pain sufferers looking for a different route.