|
Browse categories
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 Customer Reviews
Worth a try., 27 Sep 2008
This book talks a lot about posture and how it can affect your back. Posture suggestions follow. The exercises recommended for most cases of back pain involve a person bending their spine backwards. These are done in the standing and on-your-stomach positions.
One thing I did notice about this back pain book is that it contains no exercises to strengthen your back- which I think is strange as it is well documented in the back literature that people with back pain have smaller than normal back muscles (Parkkola 1993 and Daneels 2000) when examined with CT scans and MRI's as well as weaker than normal back muscles (Smidt 1983 and Mayer 1985 and Mayer 1989 and Roy 1989 and Cassisi 1993). On this basis, I felt that this book was overlooking this important point and should probably address it with at least one strengthening exercise.
Having said that, I think this book will be most helpful for people with back pain that radiates into one or both legs due to a disc problem. People with spinal stenosis or a slippage of one vertebrae over the other (called a spondylolisthesis) will want to be careful with the backward bending motion as this might actually aggravate their pain. Other fix-it-yourself books readers might be interested in include Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff for those with shoulder pain or a torn cuff.
Read with Caution, 09 Jul 2008
This book seems to make good sense, but beware. After doing the backward flexions which the book advocates are 'first aid' for backs and gives the impression are a 'cure all' for back pain, I developed a worse problem in the coccyx area. It is a pain I've never had before which makes sitting very painful, I just live in the hope that it will heal. So be very careful. The best £11 I ever spent, 20 Aug 2007
After spending a fortune on Osteopath's and Chiropractors and getting into heavy debt trying to get my back problem (a sprained left sacroiliac joint along with a slightly swollen disc at L4-L5) resolved, this book (recommended by my own Osteopath!) helped me achieve more lasting relief than any Physio/Osteopathic/Chiropractic treatment ever did.
Gone are the days when my back would sieze up leaving me unable to move and I haven't had (or needed) a single treatment since improving my posture using the advice from this book. It's been 5 years now since I read this book and I haven't had to take a single day off due to any sort of relapse of my back problem. And after being off for nearly 4 months previously that's a phenominal result IMHO.
And to be honest I didn't really even do any of the exercises recommended in the book, but I wouldn't advise doing that as the exercises are designed to help you retain mobility and full range of movement while your back heals by reducing the formation of unflexible scar tissue.
I obviously can't pretend that it will cure all known back problems as it's probably only good for problems caused by poor posture in the first place, but you may not be aware that you are suffering from poor posture until you learn what a good/poor posture is(!) and how it affects your body. This book helps you recognise what poor posture is and how to correct it.
It's a nice easy read - not long at all - just right - and you can put it's advice to use straightaway with lasting results to be had by keeping what you've learnt in your mind at all times. After a while it becomes 2nd nature and you can start to enjoy pain free life again.
Easily the best £11 I ever spent.
PS Personally I found taking an Aloe Vera tablet and a Glucosamine Hydrochloride tablet (available from most Health Food shops) once a day alongside very helpful too. Really Amazing results within 24 hours, 06 Oct 2005
You will think that I have been paid to write this but I have not. I suffered for several months from severe lower back pain and sciatica in both legs. After being told by medical profession nothing could be done except painkillers I had treatment by osteopath and accupuncture which made no difference. The book arrived yesterday and after doing the exercises last evening and more important changing my way of sitting whilst watching TV or at the Computer I find this morning the pain has almost gone already. I thorougly recommend this book to people with low back pain and sciatica. Incidently I am 72 and my email address is peter@peterhay.plus.com if you want to ask me any questions please do. I hope that the Author gets to read this.
Great Book, 26 Jul 2005
In 97 I had severe lower back pain and sciatica, due to a prolapsed disc at L5. The exercises in this book alongside 4 visits to Physio for traction fixed the problem. I stuck with the exercises and eventually became pain free. Now I use them to manage the symptoms when they start up and keep any pain at bay. I have been successfully running and cycling ever since (not all the time) to a good club standard.
Can't recommend it enough...Hope you enjoy being pain free as I have and save yourself some cash too.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Customer Reviews
Worth a try., 27 Sep 2008
This book talks a lot about posture and how it can affect your back. Posture suggestions follow. The exercises recommended for most cases of back pain involve a person bending their spine backwards. These are done in the standing and on-your-stomach positions.
One thing I did notice about this back pain book is that it contains no exercises to strengthen your back- which I think is strange as it is well documented in the back literature that people with back pain have smaller than normal back muscles (Parkkola 1993 and Daneels 2000) when examined with CT scans and MRI's as well as weaker than normal back muscles (Smidt 1983 and Mayer 1985 and Mayer 1989 and Roy 1989 and Cassisi 1993). On this basis, I felt that this book was overlooking this important point and should probably address it with at least one strengthening exercise.
Having said that, I think this book will be most helpful for people with back pain that radiates into one or both legs due to a disc problem. People with spinal stenosis or a slippage of one vertebrae over the other (called a spondylolisthesis) will want to be careful with the backward bending motion as this might actually aggravate their pain. Other fix-it-yourself books readers might be interested in include Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff for those with shoulder pain or a torn cuff.
Read with Caution, 09 Jul 2008
This book seems to make good sense, but beware. After doing the backward flexions which the book advocates are 'first aid' for backs and gives the impression are a 'cure all' for back pain, I developed a worse problem in the coccyx area. It is a pain I've never had before which makes sitting very painful, I just live in the hope that it will heal. So be very careful. The best £11 I ever spent, 20 Aug 2007
After spending a fortune on Osteopath's and Chiropractors and getting into heavy debt trying to get my back problem (a sprained left sacroiliac joint along with a slightly swollen disc at L4-L5) resolved, this book (recommended by my own Osteopath!) helped me achieve more lasting relief than any Physio/Osteopathic/Chiropractic treatment ever did.
Gone are the days when my back would sieze up leaving me unable to move and I haven't had (or needed) a single treatment since improving my posture using the advice from this book. It's been 5 years now since I read this book and I haven't had to take a single day off due to any sort of relapse of my back problem. And after being off for nearly 4 months previously that's a phenominal result IMHO.
And to be honest I didn't really even do any of the exercises recommended in the book, but I wouldn't advise doing that as the exercises are designed to help you retain mobility and full range of movement while your back heals by reducing the formation of unflexible scar tissue.
I obviously can't pretend that it will cure all known back problems as it's probably only good for problems caused by poor posture in the first place, but you may not be aware that you are suffering from poor posture until you learn what a good/poor posture is(!) and how it affects your body. This book helps you recognise what poor posture is and how to correct it.
It's a nice easy read - not long at all - just right - and you can put it's advice to use straightaway with lasting results to be had by keeping what you've learnt in your mind at all times. After a while it becomes 2nd nature and you can start to enjoy pain free life again.
Easily the best £11 I ever spent.
PS Personally I found taking an Aloe Vera tablet and a Glucosamine Hydrochloride tablet (available from most Health Food shops) once a day alongside very helpful too. Really Amazing results within 24 hours, 06 Oct 2005
You will think that I have been paid to write this but I have not. I suffered for several months from severe lower back pain and sciatica in both legs. After being told by medical profession nothing could be done except painkillers I had treatment by osteopath and accupuncture which made no difference. The book arrived yesterday and after doing the exercises last evening and more important changing my way of sitting whilst watching TV or at the Computer I find this morning the pain has almost gone already. I thorougly recommend this book to people with low back pain and sciatica. Incidently I am 72 and my email address is peter@peterhay.plus.com if you want to ask me any questions please do. I hope that the Author gets to read this.
Great Book, 26 Jul 2005
In 97 I had severe lower back pain and sciatica, due to a prolapsed disc at L5. The exercises in this book alongside 4 visits to Physio for traction fixed the problem. I stuck with the exercises and eventually became pain free. Now I use them to manage the symptoms when they start up and keep any pain at bay. I have been successfully running and cycling ever since (not all the time) to a good club standard.
Can't recommend it enough...Hope you enjoy being pain free as I have and save yourself some cash too.
Very informative & excellently presented information, 18 Apr 2007
The book is broken down into various sections such as 'understanding drugs', 'drug groups' and an 'a-z of drugs'. The information in every section is backed up with great illustrations an diagrams. Also very detailed an easy to understand throughout
Last but not least there is a first aid guide in the back!
Great stuff all in all.
Informative , 28 Jan 2007
Before coming across this book at work; I was totally in the dark about what medication or side effects they could have. Since reading the book at work, I bought the book.
Extremely helpful, plain simple layout and easy to understand text.
Worth buying and everybody should have a home copy.
Almost essential for any holistic therapist, 01 Aug 2006
I haven't had this book long but have yet to come accross a term that I can't find in it. There is a section at the beginning that covers how drugs work. This is followed on a section on vrious medical condidtions and drugs used for those - this is very detailed and informative. The main section is an alphabetical 'dictionary' of drugs and medicines which is easy to access and contains very detailed and useful information.
As a therapist I find this book so useful as clients often are taking prescription drugs without knowing what they are for and by looking them up in this book I can get valuable information to help me to decide whether or not it is safe for me to massage the client.
Seriously the best resource you could have., 02 Jun 2004
Was given the 1998 edition, and just found it useful for patient education, FAQs and really easy to use. Cheaper thatn a BNF but way more practicle. The only down point would be its reduced content of medications when compared to the BNF.
BMA guide to medicines and drugs, 09 Feb 2004
An essential guide to what you're being prescribed, what it's likely to do ... and what you shouldn't mix it with! Wonderfully reassuring when you need some basic background information without being baffled by science. This is my third update ... I wouldn't be without a copy.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Customer Reviews
Worth a try., 27 Sep 2008
This book talks a lot about posture and how it can affect your back. Posture suggestions follow. The exercises recommended for most cases of back pain involve a person bending their spine backwards. These are done in the standing and on-your-stomach positions.
One thing I did notice about this back pain book is that it contains no exercises to strengthen your back- which I think is strange as it is well documented in the back literature that people with back pain have smaller than normal back muscles (Parkkola 1993 and Daneels 2000) when examined with CT scans and MRI's as well as weaker than normal back muscles (Smidt 1983 and Mayer 1985 and Mayer 1989 and Roy 1989 and Cassisi 1993). On this basis, I felt that this book was overlooking this important point and should probably address it with at least one strengthening exercise.
Having said that, I think this book will be most helpful for people with back pain that radiates into one or both legs due to a disc problem. People with spinal stenosis or a slippage of one vertebrae over the other (called a spondylolisthesis) will want to be careful with the backward bending motion as this might actually aggravate their pain. Other fix-it-yourself books readers might be interested in include Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff for those with shoulder pain or a torn cuff.
Read with Caution, 09 Jul 2008
This book seems to make good sense, but beware. After doing the backward flexions which the book advocates are 'first aid' for backs and gives the impression are a 'cure all' for back pain, I developed a worse problem in the coccyx area. It is a pain I've never had before which makes sitting very painful, I just live in the hope that it will heal. So be very careful. The best £11 I ever spent, 20 Aug 2007
After spending a fortune on Osteopath's and Chiropractors and getting into heavy debt trying to get my back problem (a sprained left sacroiliac joint along with a slightly swollen disc at L4-L5) resolved, this book (recommended by my own Osteopath!) helped me achieve more lasting relief than any Physio/Osteopathic/Chiropractic treatment ever did.
Gone are the days when my back would sieze up leaving me unable to move and I haven't had (or needed) a single treatment since improving my posture using the advice from this book. It's been 5 years now since I read this book and I haven't had to take a single day off due to any sort of relapse of my back problem. And after being off for nearly 4 months previously that's a phenominal result IMHO.
And to be honest I didn't really even do any of the exercises recommended in the book, but I wouldn't advise doing that as the exercises are designed to help you retain mobility and full range of movement while your back heals by reducing the formation of unflexible scar tissue.
I obviously can't pretend that it will cure all known back problems as it's probably only good for problems caused by poor posture in the first place, but you may not be aware that you are suffering from poor posture until you learn what a good/poor posture is(!) and how it affects your body. This book helps you recognise what poor posture is and how to correct it.
It's a nice easy read - not long at all - just right - and you can put it's advice to use straightaway with lasting results to be had by keeping what you've learnt in your mind at all times. After a while it becomes 2nd nature and you can start to enjoy pain free life again.
Easily the best £11 I ever spent.
PS Personally I found taking an Aloe Vera tablet and a Glucosamine Hydrochloride tablet (available from most Health Food shops) once a day alongside very helpful too. Really Amazing results within 24 hours, 06 Oct 2005
You will think that I have been paid to write this but I have not. I suffered for several months from severe lower back pain and sciatica in both legs. After being told by medical profession nothing could be done except painkillers I had treatment by osteopath and accupuncture which made no difference. The book arrived yesterday and after doing the exercises last evening and more important changing my way of sitting whilst watching TV or at the Computer I find this morning the pain has almost gone already. I thorougly recommend this book to people with low back pain and sciatica. Incidently I am 72 and my email address is peter@peterhay.plus.com if you want to ask me any questions please do. I hope that the Author gets to read this.
Great Book, 26 Jul 2005
In 97 I had severe lower back pain and sciatica, due to a prolapsed disc at L5. The exercises in this book alongside 4 visits to Physio for traction fixed the problem. I stuck with the exercises and eventually became pain free. Now I use them to manage the symptoms when they start up and keep any pain at bay. I have been successfully running and cycling ever since (not all the time) to a good club standard.
Can't recommend it enough...Hope you enjoy being pain free as I have and save yourself some cash too.
Very informative & excellently presented information, 18 Apr 2007
The book is broken down into various sections such as 'understanding drugs', 'drug groups' and an 'a-z of drugs'. The information in every section is backed up with great illustrations an diagrams. Also very detailed an easy to understand throughout
Last but not least there is a first aid guide in the back!
Great stuff all in all.
Informative , 28 Jan 2007
Before coming across this book at work; I was totally in the dark about what medication or side effects they could have. Since reading the book at work, I bought the book.
Extremely helpful, plain simple layout and easy to understand text.
Worth buying and everybody should have a home copy.
Almost essential for any holistic therapist, 01 Aug 2006
I haven't had this book long but have yet to come accross a term that I can't find in it. There is a section at the beginning that covers how drugs work. This is followed on a section on vrious medical condidtions and drugs used for those - this is very detailed and informative. The main section is an alphabetical 'dictionary' of drugs and medicines which is easy to access and contains very detailed and useful information.
As a therapist I find this book so useful as clients often are taking prescription drugs without knowing what they are for and by looking them up in this book I can get valuable information to help me to decide whether or not it is safe for me to massage the client.
Seriously the best resource you could have., 02 Jun 2004
Was given the 1998 edition, and just found it useful for patient education, FAQs and really easy to use. Cheaper thatn a BNF but way more practicle. The only down point would be its reduced content of medications when compared to the BNF.
BMA guide to medicines and drugs, 09 Feb 2004
An essential guide to what you're being prescribed, what it's likely to do ... and what you shouldn't mix it with! Wonderfully reassuring when you need some basic background information without being baffled by science. This is my third update ... I wouldn't be without a copy.
First class subject material, 18 Sep 2008
Pert has done a first class job of making the scientific link between the role of consciousness, the way it's facilitated by the brain and its resultant effect upon body chemistry (neuro-peptides/hormones carrying molecules of emotion that have the potential to change our DNA).
Gary Bate author of 'We are here to know ourselves'
Finally a scientist makes me understand what I didn't before, 03 Aug 2008
I have an M.Sc degree in molecular biology, and for many years my mother (a psychologist) was trying to convince me of the link between body and mind, which I didn't disbelieve, but also couldn't understand from a biological point of view.
After reading the enlightening "Biology of belief" by Bruce Lipton, I devoured this one in a week and I wish there were more books like this. Pert gains her credibility during the first 100 pages in her description of the scientific life in a lab: in that part she also makes me regain my drive and excitement about discovery, in a moment (my PhD) where sometimes some experiments do go wrong!
The book was for me very easy to follow and definetely inspiring. I would suggest it to anyone who cannot get convinced about complementary therapies and power of our brains by those who don't seem credible enough because of their backgroud and lexicon. And like stated before, it's an excellend autobiography of a female scientist. I loved it! Now my mom is up reading it, and next will be my boyfriend and a friend doing her PhD in neuroscience!
Fascinating, 18 Dec 2007
A great read. It's full of real science, but has a real human thread to it.
An excellent and thought provoking book., 25 Aug 2007
It's not very often that books on the body/mind connection are written by people with serious scientific credentials but this is definitely one that is.
Candace Pert describes in great detail but also in great clarity how she discovered the role of natural opiates and thereafter the body mind connection that gave us the new science of psycho-neuro-immunolgy.
A gripping read and a fascinating insight into what the mind really is .
Validation for bodyworkers, healers and other practitioners, 11 Mar 2007
At a meeting I went to Candace Pert said she didn't quite understand why complementary practitioners needed her to 'validate' their work, that surely the fact that we (and our clients) know it works (when it does!) is validation enough.
Perhaps she was just being modest here - I have to say that it is precisely the work of Candace Pert and others in the field that gives me, as a practitioner, a way to understand what is happening, and therefore a way of explaining to clients, in a clear way, what they may be experiencing, without it being 'spooky wooky - woo, you must be a healer' - which can be disempowering or frightening to the client, depending on their belief system 'the practitioner healed me' and also places burdens on the practitioner's view of themselves.
Medical science also needed to understand 'what is going on' - and the respectability now of Psycho Neuro Immunology as a concept - due, in very large part, to Pert's work - means that without necessarily having any greater understanding of, or belief in, what 'goes on' in particularly bodywork and healing sessions, there is a greater willingness to suggest patients utilise this as adjuncts to conventional medicine.
The placebo effect is finally achieving respectability in its own right - how the mind and body can affect each other, positively, is being engaged with.
And .........on a slightly more humorous note, I have found it very useful to be able to blind a funding body with 'science' (which they didn't particularly understand) in order to get funding for one particular area where I work. This wasn't unethical, I had been asked to provide validation, and so had decided to ask clients to give subjective feedback of improvements in certain symptoms. A wiser person than myself said 'don't do that - provide some complicated science, they will be far more impressed'. So, to come back to Candace Pert's 'you don't need me to validate your work' - well, actually, we do!
And...........for the non-scientific, this is actually a VERY clear and readable account of neurochemistry. Having struggled hard to wade through some scientific papers, eyes crossed and with wet towel clamped firmly to head, Pert was a breath of fresh air!
Her individual journey is explored, and this is also very valid - there is of course a whole debate around how 'the observer' influences the experiment, so Pert's acknowledgement of WHO the scientist in the equation is utterly pertinent. The 'healer' and the 'client' engage together in a process - of course this does provide some stumbling blocks to the old double blind cross over randomised study, as the 'in the moment, this client, this therapist' is hugely central.
Very powerful book
However - Amazon, you have it wrong, this book 'Molecules of Emotion' is by Candace Pert - not Deepak Chopra - DC (wonderful though his work is) just wrote the foreword - there's somehow some sort of synchronicity going on here - often in 'science' the work of a woman scientist in the field gets unacknowledged or sidelines - cf Rosalind Franklyn's role in the 'discovery' of DNA.
Yes, yes, I know Amazon aren't doing this deliberately, its an annoying inputting blip which means that a lot of books with Forewords end up being credited to the foreword writer, rather than the author, due to the foreword writer being listed first.
I just thought it was amusingly illustrative in this case!
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Customer Reviews
Worth a try., 27 Sep 2008
This book talks a lot about posture and how it can affect your back. Posture suggestions follow. The exercises recommended for most cases of back pain involve a person bending their spine backwards. These are done in the standing and on-your-stomach positions.
One thing I did notice about this back pain book is that it contains no exercises to strengthen your back- which I think is strange as it is well documented in the back literature that people with back pain have smaller than normal back muscles (Parkkola 1993 and Daneels 2000) when examined with CT scans and MRI's as well as weaker than normal back muscles (Smidt 1983 and Mayer 1985 and Mayer 1989 and Roy 1989 and Cassisi 1993). On this basis, I felt that this book was overlooking this important point and should probably address it with at least one strengthening exercise.
Having said that, I think this book will be most helpful for people with back pain that radiates into one or both legs due to a disc problem. People with spinal stenosis or a slippage of one vertebrae over the other (called a spondylolisthesis) will want to be careful with the backward bending motion as this might actually aggravate their pain. Other fix-it-yourself books readers might be interested in include Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff for those with shoulder pain or a torn cuff.
Read with Caution, 09 Jul 2008
This book seems to make good sense, but beware. After doing the backward flexions which the book advocates are 'first aid' for backs and gives the impression are a 'cure all' for back pain, I developed a worse problem in the coccyx area. It is a pain I've never had before which makes sitting very painful, I just live in the hope that it will heal. So be very careful. The best £11 I ever spent, 20 Aug 2007
After spending a fortune on Osteopath's and Chiropractors and getting into heavy debt trying to get my back problem (a sprained left sacroiliac joint along with a slightly swollen disc at L4-L5) resolved, this book (recommended by my own Osteopath!) helped me achieve more lasting relief than any Physio/Osteopathic/Chiropractic treatment ever did.
Gone are the days when my back would sieze up leaving me unable to move and I haven't had (or needed) a single treatment since improving my posture using the advice from this book. It's been 5 years now since I read this book and I haven't had to take a single day off due to any sort of relapse of my back problem. And after being off for nearly 4 months previously that's a phenominal result IMHO.
And to be honest I didn't really even do any of the exercises recommended in the book, but I wouldn't advise doing that as the exercises are designed to help you retain mobility and full range of movement while your back heals by reducing the formation of unflexible scar tissue.
I obviously can't pretend that it will cure all known back problems as it's probably only good for problems caused by poor posture in the first place, but you may not be aware that you are suffering from poor posture until you learn what a good/poor posture is(!) and how it affects your body. This book helps you recognise what poor posture is and how to correct it.
It's a nice easy read - not long at all - just right - and you can put it's advice to use straightaway with lasting results to be had by keeping what you've learnt in your mind at all times. After a while it becomes 2nd nature and you can start to enjoy pain free life again.
Easily the best £11 I ever spent.
PS Personally I found taking an Aloe Vera tablet and a Glucosamine Hydrochloride tablet (available from most Health Food shops) once a day alongside very helpful too. Really Amazing results within 24 hours, 06 Oct 2005
You will think that I have been paid to write this but I have not. I suffered for several months from severe lower back pain and sciatica in both legs. After being told by medical profession nothing could be done except painkillers I had treatment by osteopath and accupuncture which made no difference. The book arrived yesterday and after doing the exercises last evening and more important changing my way of sitting whilst watching TV or at the Computer I find this morning the pain has almost gone already. I thorougly recommend this book to people with low back pain and sciatica. Incidently I am 72 and my email address is peter@peterhay.plus.com if you want to ask me any questions please do. I hope that the Author gets to read this.
Great Book, 26 Jul 2005
In 97 I had severe lower back pain and sciatica, due to a prolapsed disc at L5. The exercises in this book alongside 4 visits to Physio for traction fixed the problem. I stuck with the exercises and eventually became pain free. Now I use them to manage the symptoms when they start up and keep any pain at bay. I have been successfully running and cycling ever since (not all the time) to a good club standard.
Can't recommend it enough...Hope you enjoy being pain free as I have and save yourself some cash too.
Very informative & excellently presented information, 18 Apr 2007
The book is broken down into various sections such as 'understanding drugs', 'drug groups' and an 'a-z of drugs'. The information in every section is backed up with great illustrations an diagrams. Also very detailed an easy to understand throughout
Last but not least there is a first aid guide in the back!
Great stuff all in all.
Informative , 28 Jan 2007
Before coming across this book at work; I was totally in the dark about what medication or side effects they could have. Since reading the book at work, I bought the book.
Extremely helpful, plain simple layout and easy to understand text.
Worth buying and everybody should have a home copy.
Almost essential for any holistic therapist, 01 Aug 2006
I haven't had this book long but have yet to come accross a term that I can't find in it. There is a section at the beginning that covers how drugs work. This is followed on a section on vrious medical condidtions and drugs used for those - this is very detailed and informative. The main section is an alphabetical 'dictionary' of drugs and medicines which is easy to access and contains very detailed and useful information.
As a therapist I find this book so useful as clients often are taking prescription drugs without knowing what they are for and by looking them up in this book I can get valuable information to help me to decide whether or not it is safe for me to massage the client.
Seriously the best resource you could have., 02 Jun 2004
Was given the 1998 edition, and just found it useful for patient education, FAQs and really easy to use. Cheaper thatn a BNF but way more practicle. The only down point would be its reduced content of medications when compared to the BNF.
BMA guide to medicines and drugs, 09 Feb 2004
An essential guide to what you're being prescribed, what it's likely to do ... and what you shouldn't mix it with! Wonderfully reassuring when you need some basic background information without being baffled by science. This is my third update ... I wouldn't be without a copy.
First class subject material, 18 Sep 2008
Pert has done a first class job of making the scientific link between the role of consciousness, the way it's facilitated by the brain and its resultant effect upon body chemistry (neuro-peptides/hormones carrying molecules of emotion that have the potential to change our DNA).
Gary Bate author of 'We are here to know ourselves'
Finally a scientist makes me understand what I didn't before, 03 Aug 2008
I have an M.Sc degree in molecular biology, and for many years my mother (a psychologist) was trying to convince me of the link between body and mind, which I didn't disbelieve, but also couldn't understand from a biological point of view.
After reading the enlightening "Biology of belief" by Bruce Lipton, I devoured this one in a week and I wish there were more books like this. Pert gains her credibility during the first 100 pages in her description of the scientific life in a lab: in that part she also makes me regain my drive and excitement about discovery, in a moment (my PhD) where sometimes some experiments do go wrong!
The book was for me very easy to follow and definetely inspiring. I would suggest it to anyone who cannot get convinced about complementary therapies and power of our brains by those who don't seem credible enough because of their backgroud and lexicon. And like stated before, it's an excellend autobiography of a female scientist. I loved it! Now my mom is up reading it, and next will be my boyfriend and a friend doing her PhD in neuroscience!
Fascinating, 18 Dec 2007
A great read. It's full of real science, but has a real human thread to it.
An excellent and thought provoking book., 25 Aug 2007
It's not very often that books on the body/mind connection are written by people with serious scientific credentials but this is definitely one that is.
Candace Pert describes in great detail but also in great clarity how she discovered the role of natural opiates and thereafter the body mind connection that gave us the new science of psycho-neuro-immunolgy.
A gripping read and a fascinating insight into what the mind really is .
Validation for bodyworkers, healers and other practitioners, 11 Mar 2007
At a meeting I went to Candace Pert said she didn't quite understand why complementary practitioners needed her to 'validate' their work, that surely the fact that we (and our clients) know it works (when it does!) is validation enough.
Perhaps she was just being modest here - I have to say that it is precisely the work of Candace Pert and others in the field that gives me, as a practitioner, a way to understand what is happening, and therefore a way of explaining to clients, in a clear way, what they may be experiencing, without it being 'spooky wooky - woo, you must be a healer' - which can be disempowering or frightening to the client, depending on their belief system 'the practitioner healed me' and also places burdens on the practitioner's view of themselves.
Medical science also needed to understand 'what is going on' - and the respectability now of Psycho Neuro Immunology as a concept - due, in very large part, to Pert's work - means that without necessarily having any greater understanding of, or belief in, what 'goes on' in particularly bodywork and healing sessions, there is a greater willingness to suggest patients utilise this as adjuncts to conventional medicine.
The placebo effect is finally achieving respectability in its own right - how the mind and body can affect each other, positively, is being engaged with.
And .........on a slightly more humorous note, I have found it very useful to be able to blind a funding body with 'science' (which they didn't particularly understand) in order to get funding for one particular area where I work. This wasn't unethical, I had been asked to provide validation, and so had decided to ask clients to give subjective feedback of improvements in certain symptoms. A wiser person than myself said 'don't do that - provide some complicated science, they will be far more impressed'. So, to come back to Candace Pert's 'you don't need me to validate your work' - well, actually, we do!
And...........for the non-scientific, this is actually a VERY clear and readable account of neurochemistry. Having struggled hard to wade through some scientific papers, eyes crossed and with wet towel clamped firmly to head, Pert was a breath of fresh air!
Her individual journey is explored, and this is also very valid - there is of course a whole debate around how 'the observer' influences the experiment, so Pert's acknowledgement of WHO the scientist in the equation is utterly pertinent. The 'healer' and the 'client' engage together in a process - of course this does provide some stumbling blocks to the old double blind cross over randomised study, as the 'in the moment, this client, this therapist' is hugely central.
Very powerful book
However - Amazon, you have it wrong, this book 'Molecules of Emotion' is by Candace Pert - not Deepak Chopra - DC (wonderful though his work is) just wrote the foreword - there's somehow some sort of synchronicity going on here - often in 'science' the work of a woman scientist in the field gets unacknowledged or sidelines - cf Rosalind Franklyn's role in the 'discovery' of DNA.
Yes, yes, I know Amazon aren't doing this deliberately, its an annoying inputting blip which means that a lot of books with Forewords end up being credited to the foreword writer, rather than the author, due to the foreword writer being listed first.
I just thought it was amusingly illustrative in this case!
SUPERB dictionary - buy it now!, 19 Jul 2008
This is an absolutely superb dictionary and it's 'colour' element really helps with finding entries and makes it all a little more interesting! Headings are all written in red with descriptions in black and there are a few illustrations - but only where necessary. Incidentally the 'hardback' is actually a soft, tactile, plastic which makes it lighter and somehow much more pleasing to hold! Would recommend this dictionary!
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Customer Reviews
Worth a try., 27 Sep 2008
This book talks a lot about posture and how it can affect your back. Posture suggestions follow. The exercises recommended for most cases of back pain involve a person bending their spine backwards. These are done in the standing and on-your-stomach positions.
One thing I did notice about this back pain book is that it contains no exercises to strengthen your back- which I think is strange as it is well documented in the back literature that people with back pain have smaller than normal back muscles (Parkkola 1993 and Daneels 2000) when examined with CT scans and MRI's as well as weaker than normal back muscles (Smidt 1983 and Mayer 1985 and Mayer 1989 and Roy 1989 and Cassisi 1993). On this basis, I felt that this book was overlooking this important point and should probably address it with at least one strengthening exercise.
Having said that, I think this book will be most helpful for people with back pain that radiates into one or both legs due to a disc problem. People with spinal stenosis or a slippage of one vertebrae over the other (called a spondylolisthesis) will want to be careful with the backward bending motion as this might actually aggravate their pain. Other fix-it-yourself books readers might be interested in include Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff for those with shoulder pain or a torn cuff.
Read with Caution, 09 Jul 2008
This book seems to make good sense, but beware. After doing the backward flexions which the book advocates are 'first aid' for backs and gives the impression are a 'cure all' for back pain, I developed a worse problem in the coccyx area. It is a pain I've never had before which makes sitting very painful, I just live in the hope that it will heal. So be very careful. The best £11 I ever spent, 20 Aug 2007
After spending a fortune on Osteopath's and Chiropractors and getting into heavy debt trying to get my back problem (a sprained left sacroiliac joint along with a slightly swollen disc at L4-L5) resolved, this book (recommended by my own Osteopath!) helped me achieve more lasting relief than any Physio/Osteopathic/Chiropractic treatment ever did.
Gone are the days when my back would sieze up leaving me unable to move and I haven't had (or needed) a single treatment since improving my posture using the advice from this book. It's been 5 years now since I read this book and I haven't had to take a single day off due to any sort of relapse of my back problem. And after being off for nearly 4 months previously that's a phenominal result IMHO.
And to be honest I didn't really even do any of the exercises recommended in the book, but I wouldn't advise doing that as the exercises are designed to help you retain mobility and full range of movement while your back heals by reducing the formation of unflexible scar tissue.
I obviously can't pretend that it will cure all known back problems as it's probably only good for problems caused by poor posture in the first place, but you may not be aware that you are suffering from poor posture until you learn what a good/poor posture is(!) and how it affects your body. This book helps you recognise what poor posture is and how to correct it.
It's a nice easy read - not long at all - just right - and you can put it's advice to use straightaway with lasting results to be had by keeping what you've learnt in your mind at all times. After a while it becomes 2nd nature and you can start to enjoy pain free life again.
Easily the best £11 I ever spent.
PS Personally I found taking an Aloe Vera tablet and a Glucosamine Hydrochloride tablet (available from most Health Food shops) once a day alongside very helpful too. Really Amazing results within 24 hours, 06 Oct 2005
You will think that I have been paid to write this but I have not. I suffered for several months from severe lower back pain and sciatica in both legs. After being told by medical profession nothing could be done except painkillers I had treatment by osteopath and accupuncture which made no difference. The book arrived yesterday and after doing the exercises last evening and more important changing my way of sitting whilst watching TV or at the Computer I find this morning the pain has almost gone already. I thorougly recommend this book to people with low back pain and sciatica. Incidently I am 72 and my email address is peter@peterhay.plus.com if you want to ask me any questions please do. I hope that the Author gets to read this.
Great Book, 26 Jul 2005
In 97 I had severe lower back pain and sciatica, due to a prolapsed disc at L5. The exercises in this book alongside 4 visits to Physio for traction fixed the problem. I stuck with the exercises and eventually became pain free. Now I use them to manage the symptoms when they start up and keep any pain at bay. I have been successfully running and cycling ever since (not all the time) to a good club standard.
Can't recommend it enough...Hope you enjoy being pain free as I have and save yourself some cash too.
Very informative & excellently presented information, 18 Apr 2007
The book is broken down into various sections such as 'understanding drugs', 'drug groups' and an 'a-z of drugs'. The information in every section is backed up with great illustrations an diagrams. Also very detailed an easy to understand throughout
Last but not least there is a first aid guide in the back!
Great stuff all in all.
Informative , 28 Jan 2007
Before coming across this book at work; I was totally in the dark about what medication or side effects they could have. Since reading the book at work, I bought the book.
Extremely helpful, plain simple layout and easy to understand text.
Worth buying and everybody should have a home copy.
Almost essential for any holistic therapist, 01 Aug 2006
I haven't had this book long but have yet to come accross a term that I can't find in it. There is a section at the beginning that covers how drugs work. This is followed on a section on vrious medical condidtions and drugs used for those - this is very detailed and informative. The main section is an alphabetical 'dictionary' of drugs and medicines which is easy to access and contains very detailed and useful information.
As a therapist I find this book so useful as clients often are taking prescription drugs without knowing what they are for and by looking them up in this book I can get valuable information to help me to decide whether or not it is safe for me to massage the client.
Seriously the best resource you could have., 02 Jun 2004
Was given the 1998 edition, and just found it useful for patient education, FAQs and really easy to use. Cheaper thatn a BNF but way more practicle. The only down point would be its reduced content of medications when compared to the BNF.
BMA guide to medicines and drugs, 09 Feb 2004
An essential guide to what you're being prescribed, what it's likely to do ... and what you shouldn't mix it with! Wonderfully reassuring when you need some basic background information without being baffled by science. This is my third update ... I wouldn't be without a copy.
First class subject material, 18 Sep 2008
Pert has done a first class job of making the scientific link between the role of consciousness, the way it's facilitated by the brain and its resultant effect upon body chemistry (neuro-peptides/hormones carrying molecules of emotion that have the potential to change our DNA).
Gary Bate author of 'We are here to know ourselves'
Finally a scientist makes me understand what I didn't before, 03 Aug 2008
I have an M.Sc degree in molecular biology, and for many years my mother (a psychologist) was trying to convince me of the link between body and mind, which I didn't disbelieve, but also couldn't understand from a biological point of view.
After reading the enlightening "Biology of belief" by Bruce Lipton, I devoured this one in a week and I wish there were more books like this. Pert gains her credibility during the first 100 pages in her description of the scientific life in a lab: in that part she also makes me regain my drive and excitement about discovery, in a moment (my PhD) where sometimes some experiments do go wrong!
The book was for me very easy to follow and definetely inspiring. I would suggest it to anyone who cannot get convinced about complementary therapies and power of our brains by those who don't seem credible enough because of their backgroud and lexicon. And like stated before, it's an excellend autobiography of a female scientist. I loved it! Now my mom is up reading it, and next will be my boyfriend and a friend doing her PhD in neuroscience!
Fascinating, 18 Dec 2007
A great read. It's full of real science, but has a real human thread to it.
An excellent and thought provoking book., 25 Aug 2007
It's not very often that books on the body/mind connection are written by people with serious scientific credentials but this is definitely one that is.
Candace Pert describes in great detail but also in great clarity how she discovered the role of natural opiates and thereafter the body mind connection that gave us the new science of psycho-neuro-immunolgy.
A gripping read and a fascinating insight into what the mind really is .
Validation for bodyworkers, healers and other practitioners, 11 Mar 2007
At a meeting I went to Candace Pert said she didn't quite understand why complementary practitioners needed her to 'validate' their work, that surely the fact that we (and our clients) know it works (when it does!) is validation enough.
Perhaps she was just being modest here - I have to say that it is precisely the work of Candace Pert and others in the field that gives me, as a practitioner, a way to understand what is happening, and therefore a way of explaining to clients, in a clear way, what they may be experiencing, without it being 'spooky wooky - woo, you must be a healer' - which can be disempowering or frightening to the client, depending on their belief system 'the practitioner healed me' and also places burdens on the practitioner's view of themselves.
Medical science also needed to understand 'what is going on' - and the respectability now of Psycho Neuro Immunology as a concept - due, in very large part, to Pert's work - means that without necessarily having any greater understanding of, or belief in, what 'goes on' in particularly bodywork and healing sessions, there is a greater willingness to suggest patients utilise this as adjuncts to conventional medicine.
The placebo effect is finally achieving respectability in its own right - how the mind and body can affect each other, positively, is being engaged with.
And .........on a slightly more humorous note, I have found it very useful to be able to blind a funding body with 'science' (which they didn't particularly understand) in order to get funding for one particular area where I work. This wasn't unethical, I had been asked to provide validation, and so had decided to ask clients to give subjective feedback of improvements in certain symptoms. A wiser person than myself said 'don't do that - provide some complicated science, they will be far more impressed'. So, to come back to Candace Pert's 'you don't need me to validate your work' - well, actually, we do!
And...........for the non-scientific, this is actually a VERY clear and readable account of neurochemistry. Having struggled hard to wade through some scientific papers, eyes crossed and with wet towel clamped firmly to head, Pert was a breath of fresh air!
Her individual journey is explored, and this is also very valid - there is of course a whole debate around how 'the observer' influences the experiment, so Pert's acknowledgement of WHO the scientist in the equation is utterly pertinent. The 'healer' and the 'client' engage together in a process - of course this does provide some stumbling blocks to the old double blind cross over randomised study, as the 'in the moment, this client, this therapist' is hugely central.
Very powerful book
However - Amazon, you have it wrong, this book 'Molecules of Emotion' is by Candace Pert - not Deepak Chopra - DC (wonderful though his work is) just wrote the foreword - there's somehow some sort of synchronicity going on here - often in 'science' the work of a woman scientist in the field gets unacknowledged or sidelines - cf Rosalind Franklyn's role in the 'discovery' of DNA.
Yes, yes, I know Amazon aren't doing this deliberately, its an annoying inputting blip which means that a lot of books with Forewords end up being credited to the foreword writer, rather than the author, due to the foreword writer being listed first.
I just thought it was amusingly illustrative in this case!
SUPERB dictionary - buy it now!, 19 Jul 2008
This is an absolutely superb dictionary and it's 'colour' element really helps with finding entries and makes it all a little more interesting! Headings are all written in red with descriptions in black and there are a few illustrations - but only where necessary. Incidentally the 'hardback' is actually a soft, tactile, plastic which makes it lighter and somehow much more pleasing to hold! Would recommend this dictionary!
Good self-help tool., 18 Sep 2008
I consider this book to be a useful self-help tool for treating trigger points, or irritable spots in the muscle. It has many, many pictures which help guide the reader to common places in the muscles where these things are at. From there, you can use a ball, massage them with your fingers, or even use this tool called a Thera-Cane to get to those hard to reach places.
All in all a handy book for treating trigger points, another good lesson here is that sometimes muscle trigger points can mimick more serious ailments, when the problem is really just in the muscle. Also recommend The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution if you suffer from plantar fasciitis pain.
I Love this book, 07 Aug 2008
I got this book as a last resort after experiencing numbness and pins and needles in my hands for several months for which conventional Consultants could find no cause (I was scared.) The symptoms ceased within twenty four hours of working the trigger points. I have since overcome chronic jaw pain, knee pain, recurring neck pain, tooth ache and what I had feared was a hernia using the methods in the book. My fiancé's sciatica was cured and a friend saw significant improvement in rib pain by working the trigger points. I am always amazed that by reading through the symptoms and the relevant muscle groups (this can take a bit of time, but is so worth the effort and much quicker than waiting for a Doctors appointment and referral) there will be a diagram to show where I'll likely find a trigger point for the particular symptom I'm experiencing. Each time I have thought no, surely not, and Lo and behold, there is one. It's like magic every time! I couldn't recommend this book highly enough and love the way it takes the fear away from experiencing aches and pains because I now know that I can do something about it. I have so much appreciation for Clair Davies for creating this book in a format that I can use with ease. It has had a powerful positive impact on my life experience.
The book that has changed my life, 20 Jul 2008
I buy lots of stuff on the Internet, I'm an IT guy so I enjoy buying gadgets, math books, computer books etc., but I don't like writing reviews because I never know how to do it well. Actually this is my third review so far, the first one I wrote couple of months ago on books.google.com and it was about... The Trigger Point Therapy. Couple of minutes ago I finished reviewing Thera Cane on amazon. In case of a Trigger Point Therapy by Clair Davies I had no choice - I know I have to review it because if it is going to help just one person in making decision about reading the book, and if the book helps him in 10% as much as it helped me than it is worth to spend time writing it. I'm 37 year old male and I was always very active person. I trained judo for 2 years when I was 15, then karate and Tae Kwon Do for 4 years (I was very into it, training 3-4 hours a day). I did weight training for many years and quite recently intensive yoga for 3 years. About 10 years ago small health problems developed and after a while they became really serious. Basically I had three kind of problems: knees pain, upper back pain and stiffness and palm pain (I think it could be called RSI - working with computer keyboard too much). When I worked all day behind a computer desk then my neck and upper back hurt so much that I couldn't sleep in the night. I'm pretty sure it was because of my previous weight training - for most of the time I felt like holding one ton of metal on my neck and arms. They were so stiff and stressed. Yoga helped me a lot but I couldn't get rid off the pain for good. But still the worst problem was with my knees. I had to be very careful about jogging and quite often I was having very intensive burning sensation in them, sometimes so big that it was impossible to sleep without painkillers. To make a story short I was diagnosed with chondromalacia of the patella and the doctor said I'm going to have steroid injections directly into my knees on a permanent basis. Also he told me I could end up having knee surgery. I didn't do injections because I believed there has to be some other way to solve my problems.
The problem with the chronic pain is, if it is not unbearable, that we can get used to it, adapt to it and alter our lives somehow, so after a while we stop realizing how hard it is and how limited life we have. It affects everything we do, everything we plan, everything we feel and think. We cannot live our life to full potential because everything is tied to the pain, but the worst thing is that we begin thinking that this is normal, this is how it is suppose to be and we forget how it is to enjoy pain-free life.
I stumbled upon this book half a year ago and I thought to myself - why not to try, I'm risking only couple of pounds. Now I see how badly I needed a help. I read all reviews (I mean all of them, on amazon.com as well) and I begun self-massaging my back and neck with a tennis ball before even the book arrived. I was massaging prior going to bed and for the first couple of days I was shocked how relaxed my body can be, as the matter of fact my muscles could relax so much that I had problems walking down just a few steps to reach my bed. But I could sleep like a baby. I could sleep like never really slept well. I don't remember sleeping like that for a very long time. When I got the book I started studying it, learning more about trigger points and referral pain and looking for trigger points in my body. I found lots of them - I started massaging my thighs and my knee problems were gone in one week. I just couldn't believe it, it was like taking your life back, it felt great and it still feels wonderful.
Now, after six months my upper back, neck and arms are completely pain free, if I feel the stiffness then I message my back for a couple of minutes and the stiffness is gone. Today I was jogging for 10 km, as I do every Sunday, and I don't feel any knee pain at all. My whole life has changed and I think I'm in best physical shape for years. Even my RSI problems are almost completely gone and I work at least 8 hours a day on a computer (I can touch type quite fast so it's a really great stress for palms and fingers). Now I know what does it mean to have pain-free life and I can tell you this is great. I massage with lacrosse ball (they are much better than tennis balls indeed, although not that easy to buy in the UK) every day for a couple of minutes and I use Thera Cane regularly as well, and I feel like new.
Obviously trigger point therapy is not remedy for everything and there are many problems that are not trigger point related, that's for sure. However I believe that many people suffer for years because of the relatively uncomplicated muscle problems. Thing about this - how your skin, nails or hair would look like if you have not been taking care of them for last 5 or 10 years? How much you cared about your muscles in last years? Search for 'muscle' on google and take a look at the human body picture and see how many muscles we have and how important they are. We're abusing them almost every day, stretching them, lifting too much weights, injuring them all the time. Do you think that it has no affect for the rest of your body?
Anyway, I wish I discovered the book 10 years ago. But I'm still very happy I found it 6 months ago. If I knew how The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook is going to transform my life then I could pay for it not 11 pounds but much, much more than that, believe me. What's more important than health?
If you have neck or back chronic pain, if you have stiff arms, RSI or knee problems, even if it was diagnosed as being a joint problem, if your thigh or calf hurts then do yourself a favour and read this book. Even if it won't change your life as much as mine then I'm pretty sure your well-being will improve and your body, not only your muscles, will thank you. And I wish that to all of you from the bottom of my heart.
Absolutely amazing., 07 Jul 2008
Do yourself a favour and buy this book.
Over the last 15 years, I have been to just about every kind of medical consultant and complementary therapist there is and found, at best, only temporary relief from chronic neck and low back pain. I must have spent thousands.
This book advocates that knots in specific places in specific muscles can cause the muscle to partially and permanently contract, pulling associated muscles and joints out of alignment. This causes "referred pain" in the associated muscles and joints and a lack of blood flow through the muscle. Massaging the Trigger Points to release the knots allows the muscle to fully relax and whilst I found it very painful, it is definitely worth persevering with.
After only a week of massaging the trigger points detailed in this book my low back pain has subsided completely. I need to work more on my neck pain and I have ordered some massage tools to help with that, but even with the limitations of a tennis ball and my thumb there is already some improvement in mobility.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's so good I bought another copy for my massage therapist.
Effective, informative & easy to use - for the lay person or professional, 04 Dec 2007
This book is fantastic. It is very easy to use - lots of diagrams & well written. It has "pain maps" which help you identify problematic trigger points and then goes on to tell you how to treat them. This makes easy for non-professionals to use.
As a sports massage student, I liked the fact that Davies' also gives good advice on how to save your fingers from being overworked - eg by use of tennis balls & backnobbers. His techniques make it possible for you to safely & easily treat yourself.
So far I have had success in relieving pain from an old whiplash injury, in treating golfer's elbow & relieving the pain from Grade IV OA of the patella.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Customer Reviews
Worth a try., 27 Sep 2008
This book talks a lot about posture and how it can affect your back. Posture suggestions follow. The exercises recommended for most cases of back pain involve a person bending their spine backwards. These are done in the standing and on-your-stomach positions.
One thing I did notice about this back pain book is that it contains no exercises to strengthen your back- which I think is strange as it is well documented in the back literature that people with back pain have smaller than normal back muscles (Parkkola 1993 and Daneels 2000) when examined with CT scans and MRI's as well as weaker than normal back muscles (Smidt 1983 and Mayer 1985 and Mayer 1989 and Roy 1989 and Cassisi 1993). On this basis, I felt that this book was overlooking this important point and should probably address it with at least one strengthening exercise.
Having said that, I think this book will be most helpful for people with back pain that radiates into one or both legs due to a disc problem. People with spinal stenosis or a slippage of one vertebrae over the other (called a spondylolisthesis) will want to be careful with the backward bending motion as this might actually aggravate their pain. Other fix-it-yourself books readers might be interested in include Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff for those with shoulder pain or a torn cuff.
Read with Caution, 09 Jul 2008
This book seems to make good sense, but beware. After doing the backward flexions which the book advocates are 'first aid' for backs and gives the impression are a 'cure all' for back pain, I developed a worse problem in the coccyx area. It is a pain I've never had before which makes sitting very painful, I just live in the hope that it will heal. So be very careful. The best £11 I ever spent, 20 Aug 2007
After spending a fortune on Osteopath's and Chiropractors and getting into heavy debt trying to get my back problem (a sprained left sacroiliac joint along with a slightly swollen disc at L4-L5) resolved, this book (recommended by my own Osteopath!) helped me achieve more lasting relief than any Physio/Osteopathic/Chiropractic treatment ever did.
Gone are the days when my back would sieze up leaving me unable to move and I haven't had (or needed) a single treatment since improving my posture using the advice from this book. It's been 5 years now since I read this book and I haven't had to take a single day off due to any sort of relapse of my back problem. And after being off for nearly 4 months previously that's a phenominal result IMHO.
And to be honest I didn't really even do any of the exercises recommended in the book, but I wouldn't advise doing that as the exercises are designed to help you retain mobility and full range of movement while your back heals by reducing the formation of unflexible scar tissue.
I obviously can't pretend that it will cure all known back problems as it's probably only good for problems caused by poor posture in the first place, but you may not be aware that you are suffering from poor posture until you learn what a good/poor posture is(!) and how it affects your body. This book helps you recognise what poor posture is and how to correct it.
It's a nice easy read - not long at all - just right - and you can put it's advice to use straightaway with lasting results to be had by keeping what you've learnt in your mind at all times. After a while it becomes 2nd nature and you can start to enjoy pain free life again.
Easily the best £11 I ever spent.
PS Personally I found taking an Aloe Vera tablet and a Glucosamine Hydrochloride tablet (available from most Health Food shops) once a day alongside very helpful too. Really Amazing results within 24 hours, 06 Oct 2005
You will think that I have been paid to write this but I have not. I suffered for several months from severe lower back pain and sciatica in both legs. After being told by medical profession nothing could be done except painkillers I had treatment by osteopath and accupuncture which made no difference. The book arrived yesterday and after doing the exercises last evening and more important changing my way of sitting whilst watching TV or at the Computer I find this morning the pain has almost gone already. I thorougly recommend this book to people with low back pain and sciatica. Incidently I am 72 and my email address is peter@peterhay.plus.com if you want to ask me any questions please do. I hope that the Author gets to read this.
Great Book, 26 Jul 2005
In 97 I had severe lower back pain and sciatica, due to a prolapsed disc at L5. The exercises in this book alongside 4 visits to Physio for traction fixed the problem. I stuck with the exercises and eventually became pain free. Now I use them to manage the symptoms when they start up and keep any pain at bay. I have been successfully running and cycling ever since (not all the time) to a good club standard.
Can't recommend it enough...Hope you enjoy being pain free as I have and save yourself some cash too.
Very informative & excellently presented information, 18 Apr 2007
The book is broken down into various sections such as 'understanding drugs', 'drug groups' and an 'a-z of drugs'. The information in every section is backed up with great illustrations an diagrams. Also very detailed an easy to understand throughout
Last but not least there is a first aid guide in the back!
Great stuff all in all.
Informative , 28 Jan 2007
Before coming across this book at work; I was totally in the dark about what medication or side effects they could have. Since reading the book at work, I bought the book.
Extremely helpful, plain simple layout and easy to understand text.
Worth buying and everybody should have a home copy.
Almost essential for any holistic therapist, 01 Aug 2006
I haven't had this book long but have yet to come accross a term that I can't find in it. There is a section at the beginning that covers how drugs work. This is followed on a section on vrious medical condidtions and drugs used for those - this is very detailed and informative. The main section is an alphabetical 'dictionary' of drugs and medicines which is easy to access and contains very detailed and useful information.
As a therapist I find this book so useful as clients often are taking prescription drugs without knowing what they are for and by looking them up in this book I can get valuable information to help me to decide whether or not it is safe for me to massage the client.
Seriously the best resource you could have., 02 Jun 2004
Was given the 1998 edition, and just found it useful for patient education, FAQs and really easy to use. Cheaper thatn a BNF but way more practicle. The only down point would be its reduced content of medications when compared to the BNF.
BMA guide to medicines and drugs, 09 Feb 2004
An essential guide to what you're being prescribed, what it's likely to do ... and what you shouldn't mix it with! Wonderfully reassuring when you need some basic background information without being baffled by science. This is my third update ... I wouldn't be without a copy.
First class subject material, 18 Sep 2008
Pert has done a first class job of making the scientific link between the role of consciousness, the way it's facilitated by the brain and its resultant effect upon body chemistry (neuro-peptides/hormones carrying molecules of emotion that have the potential to change our DNA).
Gary Bate author of 'We are here to know ourselves'
Finally a scientist makes me understand what I didn't before, 03 Aug 2008
I have an M.Sc degree in molecular biology, and for many years my mother (a psychologist) was trying to convince me of the link between body and mind, which I didn't disbelieve, but also couldn't understand from a biological point of view.
After reading the enlightening "Biology of belief" by Bruce Lipton, I devoured this one in a week and I wish there were more books like this. Pert gains her credibility during the first 100 pages in her description of the scientific life in a lab: in that part she also makes me regain my drive and excitement about discovery, in a moment (my PhD) where sometimes some experiments do go wrong!
The book was for me very easy to follow and definetely inspiring. I would suggest it to anyone who cannot get convinced about complementary therapies and power of our brains by those who don't seem credible enough because of their backgroud and lexicon. And like stated before, it's an excellend autobiography of a female scientist. I loved it! Now my mom is up reading it, and next will be my boyfriend and a friend doing her PhD in neuroscience!
Fascinating, 18 Dec 2007
A great read. It's full of real science, but has a real human thread to it.
An excellent and thought provoking book., 25 Aug 2007
It's not very often that books on the body/mind connection are written by people with serious scientific credentials but this is definitely one that is.
Candace Pert describes in great detail but also in great clarity how she discovered the role of natural opiates and thereafter the body mind connection that gave us the new science of psycho-neuro-immunolgy.
A gripping read and a fascinating insight into what the mind really is .
Validation for bodyworkers, healers and other practitioners, 11 Mar 2007
At a meeting I went to Candace Pert said she didn't quite understand why complementary practitioners needed her to 'validate' their work, that surely the fact that we (and our clients) know it works (when it does!) is validation enough.
Perhaps she was just being modest here - I have to say that it is precisely the work of Candace Pert and others in the field that gives me, as a practitioner, a way to understand what is happening, and therefore a way of explaining to clients, in a clear way, what they may be experiencing, without it being 'spooky wooky - woo, you must be a healer' - which can be disempowering or frightening to the client, depending on their belief system 'the practitioner healed me' and also places burdens on the practitioner's view of themselves.
Medical science also needed to understand 'what is going on' - and the respectability now of Psycho Neuro Immunology as a concept - due, in very large part, to Pert's work - means that without necessarily having any greater understanding of, or belief in, what 'goes on' in particularly bodywork and healing sessions, there is a greater willingness to suggest patients utilise this as adjuncts to conventional medicine.
The placebo effect is finally achieving respectability in its own right - how the mind and body can affect each other, positively, is being engaged with.
And .........on a slightly more humorous note, I have found it very useful to be able to blind a funding body with 'science' (which they didn't particularly understand) in order to get funding for one particular area where I work. This wasn't unethical, I had been asked to provide validation, and so had decided to ask clients to give subjective feedback of improvements in certain symptoms. A wiser person than myself said 'don't do that - provide some complicated science, they will be far more impressed'. So, to come back to Candace Pert's 'you don't need me to validate your work' - well, actually, we do!
And...........for the non-scientific, this is actually a VERY clear and readable account of neurochemistry. Having struggled hard to wade through some scientific papers, eyes crossed and with wet towel clamped firmly to head, Pert was a breath of fresh air!
Her individual journey is explored, and this is also very valid - there is of course a whole debate around how 'the observer' influences the experiment, so Pert's acknowledgement of WHO the scientist in the equation is utterly pertinent. The 'healer' and the 'client' engage together in a process - of course this does provide some stumbling blocks to the old double blind cross over randomised study, as the 'in the moment, this client, this therapist' is hugely central.
Very powerful book
However - Amazon, you have it wrong, this book 'Molecules of Emotion' is by Candace Pert - not Deepak Chopra - DC (wonderful though his work is) just wrote the foreword - there's somehow some sort of synchronicity going on here - often in 'science' the work of a woman scientist in the field gets unacknowledged or sidelines - cf Rosalind Franklyn's role in the 'discovery' of DNA.
Yes, yes, I know Amazon aren't doing this deliberately, its an annoying inputting blip which means that a lot of books with Forewords end up being credited to the foreword writer, rather than the author, due to the foreword writer being listed first.
I just thought it was amusingly illustrative in this case!
SUPERB dictionary - buy it now!, 19 Jul 2008
This is an absolutely superb dictionary and it's 'colour' element really helps with finding entries and makes it all a little more interesting! Headings are all written in red with descriptions in black and there are a few illustrations - but only where necessary. Incidentally the 'hardback' is actually a soft, tactile, plastic which makes it lighter and somehow much more pleasing to hold! Would recommend this dictionary!
Good self-help tool., 18 Sep 2008
I consider this book to be a useful self-help tool for treating trigger points, or irritable spots in the muscle. It has many, many pictures which help guide the reader to common places in the muscles where these things are at. From there, you can use a ball, massage them with your fingers, or even use this tool called a Thera-Cane to get to those hard to reach places.
All in all a handy book for treating trigger points, another good lesson here is that sometimes muscle trigger points can mimick more serious ailments, when the problem is really just in the muscle. Also recommend The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution if you suffer from plantar fasciitis pain.
I Love this book, 07 Aug 2008
I got this book as a last resort after experiencing numbness and pins and needles in my hands for several months for which conventional Consultants could find no cause (I was scared.) The symptoms ceased within twenty four hours of working the trigger points. I have since overcome chronic jaw pain, knee pain, recurring neck pain, tooth ache and what I had feared was a hernia using the methods in the book. My fiancé's sciatica was cured and a friend saw significant improvement in rib pain by working the trigger points. I am always amazed that by reading through the symptoms and the relevant muscle groups (this can take a bit of time, but is so worth the effort and much quicker than waiting for a Doctors appointment and referral) there will be a diagram to show where I'll likely find a trigger point for the particular symptom I'm experiencing. Each time I have thought no, surely not, and Lo and behold, there is one. It's like magic every time! I couldn't recommend this book highly enough and love the way it takes the fear away from experiencing aches and pains because I now know that I can do something about it. I have so much appreciation for Clair Davies for creating this book in a format that I can use with ease. It has had a powerful positive impact on my life experience.
The book that has changed my life, 20 Jul 2008
I buy lots of stuff on the Internet, I'm an IT guy so I enjoy buying gadgets, math books, computer books etc., but I don't like writing reviews because I never know how to do it well. Actually this is my third review so far, the first one I wrote couple of months ago on books.google.com and it was about... The Trigger Point Therapy. Couple of minutes ago I finished reviewing Thera Cane on amazon. In case of a Trigger Point Therapy by Clair Davies I had no choice - I know I have to review it because if it is going to help just one person in making decision about reading the book, and if the book helps him in 10% as much as it helped me than it is worth to spend time writing it. I'm 37 year old male and I was always very active person. I trained judo for 2 years when I was 15, then karate and Tae Kwon Do for 4 years (I was very into it, training 3-4 hours a day). I did weight training for many years and quite recently intensive yoga for 3 years. About 10 years ago small health problems developed and after a while they became really serious. Basically I had three kind of problems: knees pain, upper back pain and stiffness and palm pain (I think it could be called RSI - working with computer keyboard too much). When I worked all day behind a computer desk then my neck and upper back hurt so much that I couldn't sleep in the night. I'm pretty sure it was because of my previous weight training - for most of the time I felt like holding one ton of metal on my neck and arms. They were so stiff and stressed. Yoga helped me a lot but I couldn't get rid off the pain for good. But still the worst problem was with my knees. I had to be very careful about jogging and quite often I was having very intensive burning sensation in them, sometimes so big that it was impossible to sleep without painkillers. To make a story short I was diagnosed with chondromalacia of the patella and the doctor said I'm going to have steroid injections directly into my knees on a permanent basis. Also he told me I could end up having knee surgery. I didn't do injections because I believed there has to be some other way to solve my problems.
The problem with the chronic pain is, if it is not unbearable, that we can get used to it, adapt to it and alter our lives somehow, so after a while we stop realizing how hard it is and how limited life we have. It affects everything we do, everything we plan, everything we feel and think. We cannot live our life to full potential because everything is tied to the pain, but the worst thing is that we begin thinking that this is normal, this is how it is suppose to be and we forget how it is to enjoy pain-free life.
I stumbled upon this book half a year ago and I thought to myself - why not to try, I'm risking only couple of pounds. Now I see how badly I needed a help. I read all reviews (I mean all of them, on amazon.com as well) and I begun self-massaging my back and neck with a tennis ball before even the book arrived. I was massaging prior going to bed and for the first couple of days I was shocked how relaxed my body can be, as the matter of fact my muscles could relax so much that I had problems walking down just a few steps to reach my bed. But I could sleep like a baby. I could sleep like never really slept well. I don't remember sleeping like that for a very long time. When I got the book I started studying it, learning more about trigger points and referral pain and looking for trigger points in my body. I found lots of them - I started massaging my thighs and my knee problems were gone in one week. I just couldn't believe it, it was like taking your life back, it felt great and it still feels wonderful.
Now, after six months my upper back, neck and arms are completely pain free, if I feel the stiffness then I message my back for a couple of minutes and the stiffness is gone. Today I was jogging for 10 km, as I do every Sunday, and I don't feel any knee pain at all. My whole life has changed and I think I'm in best physical shape for years. Even my RSI problems are almost completely gone and I work at least 8 hours a day on a computer (I can touch type quite fast so it's a really great stress for palms and fingers). Now I know what does it mean to have pain-free life and I can tell you this is great. I massage with lacrosse ball (they are much better than tennis balls indeed, although not that easy to buy in the UK) every day for a couple of minutes and I use Thera Cane regularly as well, and I feel like new.
Obviously trigger point therapy is not remedy for everything and there are many problems that are not trigger point related, that's for sure. However I believe that many people suffer for years because of the relatively uncomplicated muscle problems. Thing about this - how your skin, nails or hair would look like if you have not been taking care of them for last 5 or 10 years? How much you cared about your muscles in last years? Search for 'muscle' on google and take a look at the human body picture and see how many muscles we have and how important they are. We're abusing them almost every day, stretching them, lifting too much weights, injuring them all the time. Do you think that it has no affect for the rest of your body?
Anyway, I wish I discovered the book 10 years ago. But I'm still very happy I found it 6 months ago. If I knew how The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook is going to transform my life then I could pay for it not 11 pounds but much, much more than that, believe me. What's more important than health?
If you have neck or back chronic pain, if you have stiff arms, RSI or knee problems, even if it was diagnosed as being a joint problem, if your thigh or calf hurts then do yourself a favour and read this book. Even if it won't change your life as much as mine then I'm pretty sure your well-being will improve and your body, not only your muscles, will thank you. And I wish that to all of you from the bottom of my heart.
Absolutely amazing., 07 Jul 2008
Do yourself a favour and buy this book.
Over the last 15 years, I have been to just about every kind of medical consultant and complementary therapist there is and found, at best, only temporary relief from chronic neck and low back pain. I must have spent thousands.
This book advocates that knots in specific places in specific muscles can cause the muscle to partially and permanently contract, pulling associated muscles and joints out of alignment. This causes "referred pain" in the associated muscles and joints and a lack of blood flow through the muscle. Massaging the Trigger Points to release the knots allows the muscle to fully relax and whilst I found it very painful, it is definitely worth persevering with.
After only a week of massaging the trigger points detailed in this book my low back pain has subsided completely. I need to work more on my neck pain and I have ordered some massage tools to help with that, but even with the limitations of a tennis ball and my thumb there is already some improvement in mobility.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's so good I bought another copy for my massage therapist.
Effective, informative & easy to use - for the lay person or professional, 04 Dec 2007
This book is fantastic. It is very easy to use - lots of diagrams & well written. It has "pain maps" which help you identify problematic trigger points and then goes on to tell you how to treat them. This makes easy for non-professionals to use.
As a sports massage student, I liked the fact that Davies' also gives good advice on how to save your fingers from being overworked - eg by use of tennis balls & backnobbers. His techniques make it possible for you to safely & easily treat yourself.
So far I have had success in relieving pain from an old whiplash injury, in treating golfer's elbow & relieving the pain from Grade IV OA of the patella.
Spendid!, 16 Sep 2008
The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome is a must to strengthen your strategies as well as your knowledge on any kinds of specific symptoms on Asperger Syndrome. Also, Dr. Attwood explains other related and/or complicated syndromes. Although this book has so many pages, it is quite easy to read and includes no complicated structure. It is reader-friendly, if you ask me! If you find it quite tough to read it all through, you might as well pick up your favorite chapters. And it's going to lighten the loads of your mind and deepen your understanding on your AS traits.
After all, this book provides a lot of solutions to tackle their problems not only for Aspies but teachers, parents, friends, siblings, colleagues, and bosses who deal with AS people and those who are likely to have AS. And this will minimize their shortcomings on AS, worse or worst situations, and their stresses. It is Aspies who suffer their symptoms most!
If possible, I could give more than 6 stars to this wonderful book Tony Attwood wrote!
The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome, 07 Feb 2008
This remarkable book gives an incredibly clear account of asperger's and its impact on people around them. It is easy to read yet gives the most profound insights and cause for joy and optimism. A diagnosis of Aspergers is not the end of the world but a way of accessing the genius and talents that can go with it. If you know people who may be on the autistic spectrum it gives you a way of understanding and enjoying them and seeing the truth beneath a way of being that can make people hard to know. Reading the book has been an eyeopener for me, I have always enjoyed being with unusual people and now understand why.
The Complete Guide to Asperger Syndrome, 29 Dec 2007
When we were at the assessment stage this book really helped me to recognise what my child's problem was. It has so much information, and I have reread it several times.
The Asperger's Bible - Truly a Godsend!, 10 Aug 2007
Dr. Attwood is the leading expert on Asperger's Syndrome (AS) which is the spectrum partner to autism. This book is, at the time of this review his most current work. It is a shining gem and one of the standouts in autism/Asperger's (a/A) literature. If you are on the a/A continuum or know somebody who is, this book is your best friend. You will refer to it many times.
What makes this book all the more excellent and distinct is that Dr. Attwood discusses adults on the a/A spectrum as well. Autism in its myriad forms including AS does not clear up once a person hits adulthood. If you have it, it is with you for the long haul. Dr. Attwood's book and words of wisdom help lighten the load.
I have bought several copies of this book and have kept one for myself and gave the others to professionals in dire need of it. This book deserves a place of high honor and no parent; professional; person on the spectrum; anybody involved with a person/people on the spectrum should go without this book.
I was delighted to see a section devoted to intersensory marriage, that is of a neurotypical (NT) person to somebody on the a/A continuum. I would like to see more coverage of this much needed topic as AS presents a wide array of social challenges. Still, it is heartwarming; uplifting and encouraging to see more information devoted to intersensory marriages.
I agree with other reviewers who say Dr. Attwood is the best - I think we should propose a toast and raise our glasses to Dr. Attwood!
Just one book... make it this one., 02 Feb 2007
I have read lots of books on AS and reviewed many of them. What I am always warning is that in most cases any one book never gives a complete picture.
Tony Attwood's book though is about as complete a picture as you could get right now and is not only far superior to his first guide to the subject but to many others on the market.
If you read just one book on AS this should be it. It is easy to read, packed with information, and the author's respect and appreciation for people with Asperger's is evident on every page.
It's professional, it's factual, it's understanding, it's worth owning a copy.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Customer Reviews
Worth a try., 27 Sep 2008
This book talks a lot about posture and how it can affect your back. Posture suggestions follow. The exercises recommended for most cases of back pain involve a person bending their spine backwards. These are done in the standing and on-your-stomach positions.
One thing I did notice about this back pain book is that it contains no exercises to strengthen your back- which I think is strange as it is well documented in the back literature that people with back pain have smaller than normal back muscles (Parkkola 1993 and Daneels 2000) when examined with CT scans and MRI's as well as weaker than normal back muscles (Smidt 1983 and Mayer 1985 and Mayer 1989 and Roy 1989 and Cassisi 1993). On this basis, I felt that this book was overlooking this important point and should probably address it with at least one strengthening exercise.
Having said that, I think this book will be most helpful for people with back pain that radiates into one or both legs due to a disc problem. People with spinal stenosis or a slippage of one vertebrae over the other (called a spondylolisthesis) will want to be careful with the backward bending motion as this might actually aggravate their pain. Other fix-it-yourself books readers might be interested in include Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff for those with shoulder pain or a torn cuff.
Read with Caution, 09 Jul 2008
This book seems to make good sense, but beware. After doing the backward flexions which the book advocates are 'first aid' for backs and gives the impression are a 'cure all' for back pain, I developed a worse problem in the coccyx area. It is a pain I've never had before which makes sitting very painful, I just live in the hope that it will heal. So be very careful. The best £11 I ever spent, 20 Aug 2007
After spending a fortune on Osteopath's and Chiropractors and getting into heavy debt trying to get my back problem (a sprained left sacroiliac joint along with a slightly swollen disc at L4-L5) resolved, this book (recommended by my own Osteopath!) helped me achieve more lasting relief than any Physio/Osteopathic/Chiropractic treatment ever did.
Gone are the days when my back would sieze up leaving me unable to move and I haven't had (or needed) a single treatment since improving my posture using the advice from this book. It's been 5 years now since I read this book and I haven't had to take a single day off due to any sort of relapse of my back problem. And after being off for nearly 4 months previously that's a phenominal result IMHO.
And to be honest I didn't really even do any of the exercises recommended in the book, but I wouldn't advise doing that as the exercises are designed to help you retain mobility and full range of movement while your back heals by reducing the formation of unflexible scar tissue.
I obviously can't pretend that it will cure all known back problems as it's probably only good for problems caused by poor posture in the first place, but you may not be aware that you are suffering from poor posture until you learn what a good/poor posture is(!) and how it affects your body. This book helps you recognise what poor posture is and how to correct it.
It's a nice easy read - not long at all - just right - and you can put it's advice to use straightaway with lasting results to be had by keeping what you've learnt in your mind at all times. After a while it becomes 2nd nature and you can start to enjoy pain free life again.
Easily the best £11 I ever spent.
PS Personally I found taking an Aloe Vera tablet and a Glucosamine Hydrochloride tablet (available from most Health Food shops) once a day alongside very helpful too. Really Amazing results within 24 hours, 06 Oct 2005
You will think that I have been paid to write this but I have not. I suffered for several months from severe lower back pain and sciatica in both legs. After being told by medical profession nothing could be done except painkillers I had treatment by osteopath and accupuncture which made no difference. The book arrived yesterday and after doing the exercises last evening and more important changing my way of sitting whilst watching TV or at the Computer I find this morning the pain has almost gone already. I thorougly recommend this book to people with low back pain and sciatica. Incidently I am 72 and my email address is peter@peterhay.plus.com if you want to ask me any questions please do. I hope that the Author gets to read this.
Great Book, 26 Jul 2005
In 97 I had severe lower back pain and sciatica, due to a prolapsed disc at L5. The exercises in this book alongside 4 visits to Physio for traction fixed the problem. I stuck with the exercises and eventually became pain free. Now I use them to manage the symptoms when they start up and keep any pain at bay. I have been successfully running and cycling ever since (not all the time) to a good club standard.
Can't recommend it enough...Hope you enjoy being pain free as I have and save yourself some cash too.
Very informative & excellently presented information, 18 Apr 2007
The book is broken down into various sections such as 'understanding drugs', 'drug groups' and an 'a-z of drugs'. The information in every section is backed up with great illustrations an diagrams. Also very detailed an easy to understand throughout
Last but not least there is a first aid guide in the back!
Great stuff all in all.
Informative , 28 Jan 2007
Before coming across this book at work; I was totally in the dark about what medication or side effects they could have. Since reading the book at work, I bought the book.
Extremely helpful, plain simple layout and easy to understand text.
Worth buying and everybody should have a home copy.
Almost essential for any holistic therapist, 01 Aug 2006
I haven't had this book long but have yet to come accross a term that I can't find in it. | | |