| skip to main | skip to sidebar | | | | September 1999. I had chronic arm pain, 24 hours |
| On my blog , my mission is to turn everyone on | | | | a day, 7 days a week. I treated my arms like |
| to the healthcare secrets of natural products and | | | | they were made of fragile glass, I didn't type at |
| foods, to warn of the dangers of certain | | | | all (I used voice recognition software to do most |
| unnatural products and procedures, and to make | | | | of my work). I saw myself in the book, but I was |
| available the most effective, time-tested natural | | | | afraid -- afraid that if I believed in Sarno's theory I |
| products in the world, wherever possible free. For | | | | might get worse, might hurt my arms more, etc. |
| example: | | | | Nonetheless, over the course of the next 4 |
| I have become very interested recently in the | | | | months, I gradually became more and more |
| work of Dr John Sarno - his theories are turning | | | | convinced of his theory, enough to take a leap of |
| my understanding of pain upside down. I have | | | | faith around January 2000 by choosing to take a |
| found that reading about his work has in itself | | | | lot of classes rather than a few (i.e. coddling my |
| reduced my own back pain considerably. | | | | hands). By May 2000 I was very confident and |
| As far as back pain is concerned, Sarno's thesis, | | | | was not restricting my physical activity at all. I |
| crudely stated, is that much back pain is | | | | was typing, writing, opening doors, lifting weights, |
| generated by emotion, particularly anger. The pain | | | | everything. I still had some pain. By September |
| in your back is real, genuine pain -- it's not your | | | | 2000, the pain was gone. I was working a full-time |
| imagination. What you are feeling is muscular pain | | | | job as a programmer, in an extremely |
| which results from the muscle being held in | | | | un-ergonomic workstation, and I was completely |
| tension for long periods, which deprives it of | | | | pain-free" |
| oxygen (tension myositis syndrome). But Sarno | | | | If you're interested in living a long, youthful, |
| argues that what is causing you to hold that | | | | healthy and vibrant life this my be of |
| muscle in tension, for far longer than is required in | | | | interest!another interesting article: |
| normal physical activities, is a largely unconscious | | | | People with high cholesterol live the longest! This |
| group of emotions. Learn to understand your | | | | statement seems so incredible that it takes a long |
| emotional reactions to events, and the pain can | | | | time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully |
| disappear. | | | | understand its importance. Yet the fact that |
| Over the past couple of decades, Sarno has had | | | | people with high cholesterol live the longest |
| a remarkable level of success in treating patients | | | | emerges clearly from many scientific papers. |
| who suffer from back pain of this kind, and now | | | | Consider the finding of Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the |
| he has extended this work to give sufferers | | | | Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale |
| some insight into the possible psychosomatic | | | | University, who reported in 1994 that old people |
| causes of other physical disturbances. | | | | with low cholesterol died twice as often from a |
| Sarno, who is now 83, is Professor of Clinical | | | | heart attack as did old people with a high |
| Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University School | | | | cholesterol.1 Supporters of the cholesterol |
| of Medicine, and attending physician at the Howard | | | | campaign consistently ignore his observation, or |
| A. Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, New | | | | consider it as a rare exception, produced by |
| York University Medical Center. As he will be the | | | | chance among a huge number of studies finding |
| first to tell you, his work on back pain is not | | | | the opposite. |
| accepted by the scientific community, for a | | | | But it is not an exception; there are now a large |
| variety of reasons relating to 'academic rigour'. | | | | number of findings that contradict the lipid |
| However, I think there are good reasons for | | | | hypothesis. To be more specific, most studies of |
| supposing that the 10,000 patients whom he has | | | | old people have shown that high cholesterol is not |
| successfully treated for back pain and RSI | | | | a risk factor for coronary heart disease. This was |
| probably don't care too much about that. | | | | the result of my search in the Medline database |
| Rachel's testimonial: | | | | for studies addressing that question.2 Eleven |
| "My story, in a nutshell: I had RSI for about a | | | | studies of old people came up with that result, |
| year and a half. By random luck, a stranger | | | | and a further seven studies found that high |
| (actually, two of them) referred me to 'The | | | | cholesterol did not predict all-cause mortality |
| Mindbody Prescription' by John Sarno. This was | | | | either. |