The (Chronic) Pain Relief Secret [Book Review]

The book description for “The Pain Relief Secret: How to Retrain Your Nervous System, Heal Your Body, and Overcome Chronic Pain” by Sarah Warren says, read this book if you want to,

“Cure sciatica, TMJ, iliopsoas syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoarthritis pain, Lower back pain relief, and other common pain conditions.”

Since I have sciatica, I thought why not try this book (too). I should admit that many things mentioned in the book (about general bone and muscle health) were an eye-opener.

Could we be hurting our neck and back because of the forward-bent posture due to our introverted personalities? Could we be sleeping in the wrong posture? YES! At least in my case, I have been with the wrong posture for as long as I remember. That probably is the root cause of my pain which has been developing slowly over the years.

The book says that the main issue with other methods of treatment esp. physical therapy which we most probably try first is – they cure the symptoms but not the cause. That’s true. I wonder why my doctor didn’t address my wrong posture – I am sure he noticed it. So even if those methods cure us temporarily, the pain is bound to recur. That’s what happened to me.

This book gives you a good foundation on why pain occurs in the first place, what we need to learn from it, and which actions of ours impair the condition even further. That’s important. If we don’t do that course correction now, we’ll forever be entangled with pain killers and electric-assisted therapy.

Frankly, there is a lot of detail on how the muscular-skeletal system in our body works and why pain occurs. I think it’s required because only then the concepts are ingrained into our minds deeply and we become determined to correct our incorrect postures and other bad habits.

The author says that our bodies don’t have to degenerate with time. We have come to accept such things but I know people who are fit even in their 80s! We can retrain our bodies to be fit and stop doing things that are inadvertently hurting us, and that’s what this book teaches us.

The best thing about this book is the individual exercise links (to videos) given for each condition like back pain, sciatica, scoliosis, carpel tunnel, headache, etc. I will definitely add these exercises along with the ones I am already doing.

The only issue is – the book is too long. If you don’t have the patience to read the entire book, just go to page no. 205, follow the exercise video link applicable to your condition and start doing them.

Fortunately, this book is not a lead magnet. There is no ‘push’ or ‘discount coupon’ to buy more expensive guides or training videos. The focus is on self-cure and the author gives the information and the practical methods to achieve that ourselves.

I am quite impressed with somatic treatment philosophy and methods. I wonder why I didn’t know about this before. I have just started with the exercises, I will try to update this page after a while.

I feel while we could approach other forms of treatments like physiotherapy or surgery for quick relief, a long-term approach to correct the things that have been causing the ailments is equally important. And that’s what this book teaches us.

Go for it.

Destination Infinity

Links: Author Website, Publisher Website.