This book is a huge disappoinment. Amir goes to great length to let us know, in excruiating detail--- the dates, times, places, doctors, wife, co-workers, etc, and all the other details of his own pain, for half the book! His ideas of a "bad" sub-concious that is repressed and the cause of all our misery, and must be punished, is just plain wrong! And his suggestions to reward ourselves (even with ice cream, no less!)for a pain free period, is just silly and childish.

Amir bases his theory on the work of Dr. Sarno, as he was helped by him. But, he strayed far away. Amir should have just recommended Dr. Sarno's book for those suffering with pain. It would be a much better service to others who are also suffering. It was a waste of my money and time to read the book.

I wrote this review about "Healing Back Pain" by John Sarno but feel Fred Amir deserves some praise also. However, I would recommend someone that is new to the TMS diagnosis to first read the above mentioned book, as Fred kind of expects you to know a little about the theory.
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The main reason I am writing this review is to hopefully persuade someone to read this book and get over their pain. The second reason is that I have been telling everyone I know about TMS and mind body medicine and have probably been driving them nuts! So, I figure by writing this review I can get it out of my system.

I am in my late twenties and had minor prostitus, I actually went to an authors website about healing prostitus and read a review of this book. Naturally, the people on the forums were skeptical but I am an open minded person so I gave it a whirl. To my surpise, after about a week my pain was gone!

However, the pain moved (you will understand why when you read the book)to my right shoulder and neck. I am talking about debilitating, throbing, spasms, shocks running through my shoulder. This did not go away after a week so I bought his other book Mindbody medicine. After a week my pain lessend about 70-80%, but still it was agony to try and sleep and hurt for much of the morning. This pain lasted a couple of months and I was getting anxious that it may never go away.

This is when I bought Dr. Fred Amir's book Healing back and Neck pain. I remember while I was reading this book I participated in a back yard football game and three plays into the game my hamstring popped! I was really at a low point when this happened however I stuck to reading Dr. Fred Amir's book and treated this pain as TMS. I would still run, even if it was only around the block, and I noticed the pain started to subside. One week later I was running full boar on the treadmill. TMS essentially manifest itself as a pulled hamstring and when I didn't buy into the physical injury it went away. Gosh, I will the Colts team of 2006-2007 would read this book!

I am now pain free, I can do anything I want and it feels great! There were times I wasn't sure if I would ever be 100% again and started to envy people that didn't seem to have any pain. I would think "Man, I would give anything to just be pain free again!" and looked forward to the day I could once again sleep in peace. Well, funny thing is that day is here and I almost never sit back and feel grateful that I am healed. I guess life has a funny way of keeping you focused on the next task. This is why I decided to write a review...to show a little gratitude to the author who is responsible for me living a pain free existence. Thanks Dr. Sarno and Fred Amir!

This book promises much and delivers little. Hardly more than a very poor John Sarno rip off. It's unfortunate that Sarnos' name was used since it is the only legitimate thing in the book. If you like to hear someone moan and cry about how everything in their life was related to their sensitive repressed feelings then this book is for you. If you subscribe to the Farenheit 451 theory this book is also for you.(not to memoorize but to burn) Sorry!

I wrote this review about "Healing Back Pain" by John Sarno but feel Fred Amir deserves some praise also. However, I would recommend someone that is new to the TMS diagnosis to first read the above mentioned book, as Fred kind of expects you to know a little about the theory.
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The main reason I am writing this review is to hopefully persuade someone to read this book and get over their pain. The second reason is that I have been telling everyone I know about TMS and mind body medicine and have probably been driving them nuts! So, I figure by writing this review I can get it out of my system.

I am in my late twenties and had minor prostitus, I actually went to an authors website about healing prostitus and read a review of this book. Naturally, the people on the forums were skeptical but I am an open minded person so I gave it a whirl. To my surpise, after about a week my pain was gone!

However, the pain moved (you will understand why when you read the book)to my right shoulder and neck. I am talking about debilitating, throbing, spasms, shocks running through my shoulder. This did not go away after a week so I bought his other book Mindbody medicine. After a week my pain lessend about 70-80%, but still it was agony to try and sleep and hurt for much of the morning. This pain lasted a couple of months and I was getting anxious that it may never go away.

This is when I bought Dr. Fred Amir's book Healing back and Neck pain. I remember while I was reading this book I participated in a back yard football game and three plays into the game my hamstring popped! I was really at a low point when this happened however I stuck to reading Dr. Fred Amir's book and treated this pain as TMS. I would still run, even if it was only around the block, and I noticed the pain started to subside. One week later I was running full boar on the treadmill. TMS essentially manifest itself as a pulled hamstring and when I didn't buy into the physical injury it went away. Gosh, I will the Colts team of 2006-2007 would read this book!

I am now pain free, I can do anything I want and it feels great! There were times I wasn't sure if I would ever be 100% again and started to envy people that didn't seem to have any pain. I would think "Man, I would give anything to just be pain free again!" and looked forward to the day I could once again sleep in peace. Well, funny thing is that day is here and I almost never sit back and feel grateful that I am healed. I guess life has a funny way of keeping you focused on the next task. This is why I decided to write a review...to show a little gratitude to the author who is responsible for me living a pain free existence. Thanks Dr. Sarno and Fred Amir!

This book promises much and delivers little. Hardly more than a very poor John Sarno rip off. It's unfortunate that Sarnos' name was used since it is the only legitimate thing in the book. If you like to hear someone moan and cry about how everything in their life was related to their sensitive repressed feelings then this book is for you. If you subscribe to the Farenheit 451 theory this book is also for you.(not to memoorize but to burn) Sorry!

Around the time of my pregnancy in 1995 I developed pain throughout my body that eventually reached a point where almost all the activities in life I loved were no longer available, and trying to get well became an obsession.

The critical symptoms were a sawing pain across my upper leg and in my hip, repetitive strain injury (RSI) in my hands and arms which at its worse prevented me from dressing, toileting or eating without assistance, and back, neck, ankle and foot pain. There was a year when I couldn't drive myself at all. Eventually I ended up in a wheelchair, pushed around by my husband. This experience was extremely frightening and I was greatly challenged to deal with both the fear and the pain.

Throughout this period we spend huge money and energy getting the best medical help we could find. Numerous (often conflicting) suggestions were offered for why I was in this predicament, but nothing offered arrested my decline. My life became vastly restricted.

When I began reading Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain, I could barely walk. I followed the strategies outlined in the book closely. I quickly regained both mobility, and muscle strength, and was once again able to play the piano, and resume trekking and climbing. Three years later I continue to immerse myself in these activities, and my body works great. As an added bonus my allergies to cats and pollen and the like, which I had had since early childhood, disappeared.

This approach challenges current medical thinking, and challenged my thinking. Once I committed to it I focused on the "what to do", rather than on the "will it work?". I found the book practical and easy to follow. The important thing is to give it a thorough try (rather than getting tied up with what doctors have told you in the past, or what our society currently believes about pain) and to follow the steps as designed till you realise it works and you can go it on your own.

It is a powerful approach, and produces results that are almost miraculous. It's been well worth the effort and lifechanging for me, and others I've met.

Since my pregnancy in 1995 I developed pain throughout my body that eventually reached a point where almost all the activities in life I loved were no longer available, and trying to get well became an obsession. The critical symptoms were an upper leg that felt like it was being sawed in two, repetitive strain injury (RSI) in my hands and arms which at its worse prevented me from dressing, toileting or eating without assistance, and back, neck and ankle pain. There was a year when I couldn't drive myself at all. Eventually I ended up in a wheelchair, pushed around by my husband.

Throughout this period we spend huge money and energy getting the best medical help we could find. Numerous (often conflicting) suggestions were offered for why I was in this predicament, but nothing offered arrested my decline. My life became vastly restricted and I became a shadow of my former self.

When I began reading Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain, I could barely walk. However as I followed the strategies outlined in the book I recovered quickly. My body returned to it's former healthy and mobile self, and as a surprising added bonus my allergies to cats, pollen and the like, which I had had since early childhood, disappeared.

It is three years since I rapidly recovered. I have spent these climbing, cycling, playing the piano, dancing, gardening and loving life. What a gift this has been, and a huge turnaround from being severely disabled. You can read my story more fully at [..]

I had an aching back for about five years, mostly in my lower back and sometines in my mid and upper back. I made the usual rounds between doctors, specialists, chiropractors, accupuncturists, and so on. The pain was always there, sometimes better sometimes worse. I used to wake up in pain and stiff most mornings.

One day I read an article about Dr. Sarno's work and decided to persue it further. I read his books and noticed some improvement in my pain and stiffness. But for whatever reason, I just could not get rid of the pain.

Then I read Amir's book. I just made so much more sense to read the effectiveness of Sarno's method witin the context of his recovery. Just reading his story gave me a lot of hope. I tried his recovery plan and was amazed how quickly it worked. I never thought eating ice cream could cure my back.

Now 9 weeks later, I am almost completely free of pain and very happy. I know the reviews for Sarno and Amir books are mixed, but it worked for me and I if you like ice cream, you should definitely try it.

The author of this book teaches the reader to talk down to their sub-conscious and treat it with disrespect. His advice tells the reader to treat the subconcious as a child.

A healthy individual makes friends with his/her subconcious. They become partners. They do not "beat up" their subconcious like the author teaches. Treating your subconcious with such disrespect as this book recommends is harmful . How can you love yourself if you disrespect a large part of yourself (the subconcious)?

The author of this book teaches the reader to talk down to their sub-conscious and treat it with disrespect. His advice tells the reader to treat the subconcious as a child.

A healthy individual makes friends with his/her subconcious. They become partners. They do not "beat up" their subconcious like the author teaches. Treating your subconcious with such disrespect as this book recommends is harmful . How can you love yourself if you disrespect a large part of yourself (the subconcious)?

A friend gave me this book and told me it had helped him get rid of his back pain. He said it could help my carpal tunnel. It certainly did. I read it and got rid of years of carpal tunnel as well as the doctors, chiroprators, therapists, pills, shots, etc. Read this book and get well. By the way, the book's website www.rapidrecovery.net is a great resource.

After reading an article about Dr. Sarno, I saw a link to this book. At first I felt all these people were crazy if they thought they could "think away" back pain. However, as a formerly athletic, active person who was more and more debilitated every day, I decided I had nothing to lose. Result of doing the exercizes in the book - I can walk, run, jump, kneel, do yoga, play with my grandchildren. I recommend this book and the forum on Fred Amir's website to anyone suffering any type of pain.

Before starting my review, let me say that I am a particle physicist and a quite skeptical guy. Nonetheless, I think it is important to be open to new ideas. In my opinion, the work of Dr. Sarno and his followers is great science. Like most important and revolutionary scientific ideas, it takes a while (one generation, Planck said) before they are generally accepted by the scientific community. But we can profit from their insight inmediatly!

This book, together with the ones by Sarno and some info on the web, has made my life worth living again. It is amazing how many different manifestation this TMS thing seems to have. My problem was not back pain, but a condition urologists classify as non-bacterial prostatitis, neurologists as pudendal nerve entrapment, musculo-skeletal therapists as coccydynia, physiotherapists as piriformis syndrome, ... (by the way, many of these doctors suggested surgery was the only solution, even if they did not really know what was going on!). At any rate, the physical symptons were real and the pain excruciating. And the worst was that I could hardly work or lead a normal life.

When I started reading Sarno's books, I found them very interesting and even believed that his ideas could help other people... but not me. It took me three months to accept that my (unconcious) mind could be doing these nasty things to me. But suddenly there was a click inside me and I felt strongly that the answer was inside my brain. And I also felt that my (concious) mind could control it. In three weeks I was 90% better. But I found it hard to progress to a 100% recovery.

It was here that Fred Amir's simple psychological techniques were extremely helpful. Before I had finished the book, I was 99% OK!
I should add that I love the way the book is written: it is very enjoyable and creates a lot of empathy, which is also helpful.

Now I can say I am "cured" of this protatitispudendalnerve... horrible thing. Furthermore, I have also recovered from my "lazy stomach" problem, which apparently had the same origin. And last but not least, I have a great feeling of power and control over my life and my health.

I am convinced that TMS (and equivalents) is, as Dr. Sarno claims, a very widespread problem, and that many people could benefit a lot from getting a correct diagnosis. Amir's book describes the practical side of Sarno's theory.

This book offers a practical implementation of Dr. Sarno's theories. I read "The MindBody Prescription" as well as this book to cure Repetitive Strain Injury in my hands. Now, six weeks after first encountering this approach, I am 80% cured. I still have some symptoms in my hands but I'm no longer scared of the pain. I don't know if this book will work for everyone but it had a lot of good advice for me. Thanks Fred.

This guy was a mess and it is great that this approach helped him, but to assume that mind is the cause of all back pain and that conventional methods of treatment never help is narrowminded.

While it is important to consider all possible causes of back pain, this book gives many irresponsible generalizations about the causes for back pain and the solutions as well as their results. It pretty much says, it is all in your head and surgery and physical therapy will cure only about 1% of the patients. I don't agree with this and although I kept reading to see what I could glean from the book that might be helpful, I was very disappointed that I spent money on the book.

Bravo to the author for curing his problem - I'm just not sure it is a cure for all (maybe not even a cure for most).

Actually, NO stars. This book is NOT for people with REAL physical manifestations such as those shown on MRI or Full Body Scan - herniated discs AND a growth on the spine. NOR is the one by Sarno. What a waste of money!

My husband was extremely athletic... hiking, running, tennis, biking, surfing. Then all of a sudden he had extreme joint pain and muscle fatigue that progressed to the point where he had trouble walking. The doctors diagnosed him with ten different illnesses but no treatments were working. He started reading Amir's book and before he had even finished half of it, he went for a one hour walk and went swimming and diving. What I've heard about people feeling better WHILE they're reading it is not a joke or exaggeration. The book is remarkable and can apply to anyone who's suffering from pain -- it's not limited to back and neck pain. In addition, it seems like it has a cliff notes version of Sarno's theory, so it probably wouldn't be necessary for someone to read both books. If you have any kind of body aches and pains, I can't recommend this book enough. I'm going to buy ten copies of them just to have one on hand in case I know anyone who could benefit from it.

This book by Fred Amir has helped me in so many ways. I can better handle daily problems that used to trouble me with his scramble technique. Talking to my tight back muscles asking my brain to send blood flow to my back muscles has helped me to relax those muscles and now I feel great.

John Sarno's book to which Mr. Amir refers to did not do enough for me. He was too vague. I need step by step details which Mr. Amir provides giving examples from his life.

Thanks Mr. Amir for helping me to enjoy life more !