This Worldwide Best-Selling Book will Help You Diagnose, Alleviate, Treat and Manage Back Pain Quickly and Effectively
Back pain is one of the most common reasons people seek medical help or miss work and is a leading cause of disability. Patients with lower back pain, upper back pain, and sciatica can benefit from the education and exercises in Treat Your Own Back. This best-selling book has helped hundreds of thousands of people worldwide with chronic back pain.
Written by physiotherapist Robin McKenzie, the book provides an understanding of how the spine works, the basics of mechanical back pain and common causes of back pain. It then offers do-it-yourself back pain relief techniques, including postural changes, ergonomics and clinically proven McKenzie Method® exercises.
Color photos and simple step-by-step instructions show you how to perform simple stretches and exercises that can be done just about anywhere to help treat and prevent pain. In addition to this exercise program, you’ll discover when to do the exercises, how to know if you are performing the exercises correctly, what to do when the pain has subsided, and how to prevent recurrence of pain.
In Treat Your Own Back you’ll learn:
- Myths about acute back pain
- How the spine works
- The basics of mechanical back pain
- Common causes of back pain and how to prevent it
- How the McKenzie Method works
- Simple stretches and exercise to help treat and prevent back pain
- Lifestyle habits to help treat and prevent back pain
- What to do when experiencing acute back pain
- How to avoid and treat the effects of postural stress by improving posture
- How to counter the effects of sitting for extended periods
- Common remedies including medications, bed rest and acupuncture
This completely revised and formatted ninth edition landmark patient book includes updated content, new photos and clinically proven McKenzie Method® exercises. It provides a clear understanding of the causes and treatments of persistent back pain.
And moving within a couple of days!
I definitely recommend this book
For those interested in homeopathic answers to back pain.
This book is a lifesaver. First of all, it's written in a no-nonsense fashion that's very approachable to the lay person and gets quickly to the point about the causes of back pain. It then describes the importance of correct posture and gives daily stretches and exercises that are easy to follow and provide real relief from back pain. In just weeks, I've gone from barely being able to get around the house to once again being able to spend a few hours on my feet, hike, do yard work and prevent the migraines triggered by back pain. Am I cured yet? No, I can still overdo it and end up with a painful back but I can do a few of the exercises in this book and recover more quickly than ever before. I feel encouraged now that keeping to this regimen will allow me to effectively control the pain and permit me to continue engaging in outdoor activities I enjoy.
As far as I'm concerned, "Treat Your Own Back" is worth considerably more than it costs. If you have back pain, please get this book. Thank you, Dr. McKenzie!
Original review 12/3/2022:
This book was recommended by a friend of mine who is a nurse and has had back troubles herself. I began to get relief IMMEDIATELY with this book. But the following, and particularly the 2nd and 3rd days after, it felt like I had more persistent back pain, but it was different. In reading the book, I was expecting that. You will be starting to work some complementary muscles to the ones involved in your back trouble. The pressure seems to have been relieved from where my pain emanated from, but the new muscles are a bit painful from making them work in ways that they SHOULD have been working before, but currently are angry because I'm making them work now. But here I am coming up on a week into this, and I'm able to maintain the correct posture with almost no fatigue or pain. I'm very optimistic about where this is headed. I will try to add more of my experience after some time has passed.
1. Gets to the point. Doesn't go on and on. Who wants to read when they are in pain?
2. Very clearly written with easy to understand visuals and clear reason why.
3. Advice is from a therapist not a chiropracter.
4. If you follow it you will be out of pain in 3 days tops.
5. It teaches you what to do to prevent it happening again. For me if I start to feel any tightness or pain creeping up. I will drop down right then and do the stretch. I only takes 5 mins and the pain is prevented.
6. You will remember this book way aftet you read it because the author explains thonks that create a picture in your mind.
Terrible pain. Got an injection at the L something-or-other by my Orthopedic doc. Hobbled in/walked out.
HATE needles, but - Cool, I'm fixed! But later it moved back in town. 2 more injections with varying results. 3 years
later - it's getting worse. I try this book in desperation. WOW! I do yoga [for pain management] and am quite
familiar with Cobra pose. But this book made that pose into therapy that is a wow. Sure hope this keeps up - I'm only 4 days in, but the change was swift and sure. I also got one for my terrible neck - again, success. Fingers crossed.
We were recently talking about her experience even though it was years ago, and she again mentioned this book. I’ve had back pain minor back pain problems in the past, so I bought this book for future reference, since I’m sure they’ll pop up again.
Disclaimer. Please get evaluation with a Chiropractor or Physical Therapist before applying the principles in the book. Best wishes in your recovery!
Just incredible.
I was back to "normal" in a couple of weeks following the steps as described. I do the exercises EVERY morning as recommended and have had no serious issues. (NOTE: when backs go bad, there essentially is no permanent cure, only maintenance )
As the doctor who recommended the McKenzie Method to one neighbor said, "I can guarantee if you do these exercises every day, your back won't bother you. I can also guarantee you won't do these exercises every day"
TRUTH
When I had back pain issues, she gave me the exercises, and I decided to go ahead and buy the book. It's a true gem. I wish there were more medical books like this - short, very easy-to-understand, and extremely practical. The exercises are like magic. The theory behind why they work is explained as well.
For the past several weeks my back has consistently been killing me. Almost to the point that I could not tolerate it any more. I just noticed it does not hurt at all right now!! Thank you so much for giving me that book. You don't know how much that means to me.
Before I bought the book, I had been through a couple of courses of physical therapy over the past few years in order to treat and prevent severe lower back pain. Each time, I would begin PT highly motivated to do all of the recommended exercises. After several weeks of twice weekly PT treatments, I would complete the program in a still highly motivated state so I would continue doing all of the recommended exercises, described in great detail in printed handouts, so that the problem does not recur. But it doesn't take long after that for reality to set in.
The reality is that a course of PT involves an enormous amount of detail and diversity in prescribed exercises. And it is so enormously boring. Not hard, just boring. I find that I simply cannot maintain the prescribed course of exercises, literally requiring more than an hour of my time cumulatively every day. I don't have the time, and even if I did the notion that life is short and this is not how I want to spend it sets in. The phrase, "To a man with a hammer every problem is a nail" comes to mind. Those exercises, and all of their variations, are a physical therapist's hammers and my pain is his nail. What they do is all well and good, and I'm grateful for it, but I find every time that it's just not feasible to change my lifestyle to one so devoted to all those exercises and their repetitions.
That's just me. I see in other reviews that many who suffer from back pain will accept such discipline, probably because they suffer from problems more severe than mine. But if you do identify with my sentiments when it comes to PT for back pain then you may appreciate the feasibility of the McKenzie approach as much as its initial effectiveness. It doesn't require that much of your time. You are so much more likely to stick with the program than with the traditional physical therapist's approach.
Chapter 9 is the panic button when you've just thrown out your back. Start doing what it says immediately and your recovery will be faster. The door slide was a life saver when I pinched the nerve last year, fixed what my chiropractor could not.
I've tried numerous books on lower back pain. This one works for me.
Now I do a brief set of exercises each morning and, since I sit at work most of the day, get up every hour for a brief set of back bends and squats. I also use lumbar pillows at home, work, and while driving.
If you have pressed material entirely out of the discs, this isn't for you. If the discs in your lower back are bulging, however, this can work like magic.
I'm going to start giving them out as gifts for the holidays. Lower back pain is very common and with a little book knowledge and some exercises/ posture corrections, it can be eliminated from your life. It worked for thousands who've gotten this book or used its teachings (PT professionals) and it worked for me. My sciatica was gone in two weeks after following the books teachings. I also know how to avoid and identify signs that I might be putting my back into a situation that could lead back to sciatica. This alone is worth buying and reading.
I've heard conflicting suggestions for dealing with spine problems. This lays out the simplest exercises and motions and explains why they're correct.
Most helpful is explaining how to interpret your pain and how it changes with exercise. How you can tell if a specific routine is helping or hurting. Not every exercise is right for everyone.
If routines are too complicated or require a lifetime of visits to the PT or chiropractor no one can stick with them. Incorporate this into daily life and you can deal with most problems yourself.
I purchased this book because of a need and paid the full price. It was not offered to me nor was my opinion requested.
If you have a chance, check out a lower spinal column model at you doctor's office. Our spines are made to be aligned in a particular way. Slouching while sitting orients our vertebrae incorrectly and pinches nerves, which creates back pain and most sciatica. Maintaining proper posture and spending time in an aligned position keeps the vertebrae correctly aligned and reduces or eliminates nerve pressure and related pain.
The easiest way to stretch is to simply read, listen to music, surf on your phone, while lying on your stomach. During off-watches on my sail trip I spent most of my time reading or talking while in this posture. I also do the stretches recommended, including the yoga "cobra" position. While helping a friend move, one of the other guys, a 64 year old carpenter, and I took "cobra" breaks between moving boxes and heavy furniture and we both got through the move OK.
I no longer go to a chiropractor, because if I stretch enough I can feel my spine gently popping back into alignment. If I neglect my stretches, I can feel my back start complaining. Since getting this book, I have had only one minor non-debilitating back pain episode that happened when I neglected my stretching and spent too much time sitting. This episode was resolved by getting back into stretching. If something feels "off" with my back, I immediately stretch, if possible while lying down, but if not by using the standing stretches, and my back quickly feels better.
Again, depending on your back problems, this book may not work for you, but if you have typical back pain likely caused by too much sitting, bad posture and physical inactivity, the techniques in this book may dramatically improve your quality of life without drugs or surgery. Try it!
By doing these exercises for about a month, combined with lumbar support when sitting, and keeping my back straight with bending down - I am glad to say my daily pain has gone from a 7/10 to about 1/10. Best $10 I ever spent!
My initial time with the physical therapist consisted of evaluation and going through the first three steps in the book. My foot numbness went away on the first visit. I progressed with the therapist in the same way the book describes. At home, the book will explain that you need to do the exercises every two hours, completing them 6-8 times a day at the beginning. My therapist wrote me up the same instructions. When the therapist said that I should make a few more appointments, that if it wasn't helping, the program was not right for me. The book explains this too and does have assessment questions for the reader. I'm glad it was right for me, and I use the book as a reference.
As far as strengthening exercises, which some people have mentioned are key in recovery, I agree as an RN that strengthening is very important. The book doesn't cover that topic because it is about this specific method of relief and healing. My McKenzie therapist told me that the point of this book not having conventional therapy, is that there are already good books out there with pages of strengthening techniques and exercises.
My work is physical and I'm an athlete. I've been seeing a chiropractor for the past two years or so, hoping that was the answer. While the chiropractor's adjustments were helpful short-term (ie for 48 hours, at $60 per adjustment), I was given no tools to help myself. This was a chiropractor that supposedly believed in an integrated approach, including physical therapy and massage. It was all useless. I spent $1,000s in treatments to no avail...matter of fact, my injury rate increased gradually the more I saw the chiropractor. I began reducing my level of physical activity, and still was having more injuries as time went on. An injury every two months eventually was becoming more than once a month..what used to be serious pain for 24 hours after the injury became pain for a week or so, which I could barely walk around without throbbing horrible low back pain. Eventually my chiropractor started blaming me for my re-occuring problem. Saying I was overdoing it or lifting with bad form, which, in retrospect, was total b.s. knowing what I know now. I'm 34 years old, and I've been feeling increasingly hopeless about my condition. I figured maybe I'm just over the hill, and should replace good soothing outdoor physical activity with watching tv or video games. Or maybe blow my brains out since life isn't worth much without being able to use an otherwise healthy and capable body.
Since buying this book, reading it and implementing recommended exercises - starting about 3 months ago, I've not had any back injuries, and I've been INCREASING my level of physical activity gradually. The best part is, for once in my life I have an UNDERSTANDING of why my back was going out so regularly - something my chiropractor never really explained, or maybe never really understood himself. Also, there are good recommended exercises both for maintenance as well as for when the back pain is approaching....right at that moment of first tweak. There have been several occasions when working, or while involved in some physical activity, in which I feel those first ominous signs of pain. I used to have to just brace myself and walk around very carefully until the inevitable hit...the throbbing horrible pain and angst that comes along with it...now I have immediate stretches I can do right after that initial twinge that cause the pain to subside and disappear within a couple of minutes. Holy crap - I wish I'd been implementing this for that past 15 years or so that I've been struggling with back issues. Anyway, time will continue to tell how this is all working out. But for now I'm feeling more optimistic about my body than ever before, and I'm even beginning to run again (and learning about how to deal with knee pain as well, which also was a problem I got little to no help for from the medical establishment.
I can't recommend this book enough if you have lower back pain.
I think the most important thing is to follow closely the instructions. A high level of commitment is required too perform the number of repetitions of the exercise indicated for your situation up to 10 times per day. This commitment certainly seems to me to be better than surgery and the risks and time involved with that.
Dr McKenzie is a chiropractor - but one of the best things in this book is his statement that 80% of his disc-bulge patients don't need any chiropractic adjustment at all - all they need to do is the simple series of exercises in the book. It sure worked for me! Very affordable, and highly recommended.