From Library Journal
After abusing his back for years, Brownstein, a practicing physician, turned to conventional medicine for relief. Surgery did not reduce the pain and led to an ongoing use of strong painkillers. Frustrated, Brownstein embarked on his own self-healing journey. The knowledge he acquired from yoga, meditation, diet, relaxation, and deep breathing was channeled into a program he calls Back To Life. Unlike the quick fixes offered by conventional medicine, Brownstein's program works holistically and requires changing unhealthy life patterns. He introduces the reader to a stretching program and strengthening exercises (demonstrated in black-and-white photos), then covers stress management, nutrition, return to work, and the psycho-spiritual elements of recovery. This is a readable book, less blunt than John Sarno's groundbreaking Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection (Warner, 1991). Back pain sufferers disappointed by conventional approaches will want this. Recommended for consumer health collections.ALisa McCormick, Health Sciences Lib., Jewish Hosp., CincinnatiCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
How to improve back health through exercise, yoga-based stretches, and stress reductiona reasonable plan. Brownstein (a clinical instructor of medicine at the University of Hawaii, Manoa) suffered multiple injuries and severe back pain for 20 years; when traditional medicines and surgery failed to help, he found relief by creating a regimen drawing on yoga, meditation, and other alternative therapies. His program is sound, and his starting point valuablerather than looking for an initiating catastrophic injury as the basis for designing treatment, chronic back pain sufferers would do better to understand their acute event as the culmination of years of stress, poor body mechanics, and possible weight and nutrition problems. His second important point is that almost all back pain originates in the muscles (rather than bone or other structures). This program is aimed, therefore at muscular fitness, principally with the extensive, progressive stretches based on yoga poses. Brownstein is careful to give appropriate cautions along the way: when to seek medical help, possible signs of serious disease. Nutritional advice, stress- reduction exercises, advice on lifestyle changes, and ``Emotional and Spiritual Lessons for Healing'' round out the program. Reliable advice for a common problem, with a spiritual/yoga flavor that will have special appeal for some sufferers. ($70,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
Bernie Siegel, M.D. author of Love, Medicine & Miracles and Prescriptions for Living The future treatment of back pain is here today with Dr. Brownstein's truly revolutionary program. I hope that everyone who suffers from back pain will read his book and heed its wisdom.


Book Description
Back pain is the nation's second most common ailment, affecting 7 out of 10 people and costing $100 billion annually. In fact, back pain is responsible for more days missed from work than any other ailment.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Dr. Brownstein has taken advantage of the inextricable relationship between the mind and the body to devise this innovative, naturopathic treatment for back pain -- an excruciating condition from which he himself has suffered. Positive thinking, proper exercise and diet, and paying close and careful attention to the messages one's body conveys are integral to Brownstein's program. This persuasive book is not only a source of relief from back pain, it also serves as an invitation to confront the emotional pain that is often at the root of back trouble.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Sharing his own story of surgery, painkiller dependency, and severe depression, Dr. Brownstein guides you through the recovery program that gave him his life back. Today, he runs a medical practice, bikes, surfboards, teaches yoga, and leads an active life -- free of pain!

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

After abusing his back for years, Brownstein, a practicing physician, turned to conventional medicine for relief. Surgery did not reduce the pain and led to an ongoing use of strong painkillers. Frustrated, Brownstein embarked on his own self-healing journey. The knowledge he acquired from yoga, meditation, diet, relaxation, and deep breathing was channeled into a program he calls Back To Life. Unlike the quick fixes offered by conventional medicine, Brownstein's program works holistically and requires changing unhealthy life patterns. He introduces the reader to a stretching program and strengthening exercises (demonstrated in black-and-white photos), then covers stress management, nutrition, return to work, and the psycho-spiritual elements of recovery. This is a readable book, less blunt than John Sarno's groundbreaking Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection (Warner, 1991). Back pain sufferers disappointed by conventional approaches will want this. Recommended for consumer health collections.--Lisa McCormick, Health Sciences Lib., Jewish Hosp., Cincinnati

Kirkus Reviews

How to improve back health through exercise, yoga-based stretches, and stress reduction-a reasonable plan. Brownstein (a clinical instructor of medicine at the University of Hawaii, Manoa) suffered multiple injuries and severe back pain for 20 years; when traditional medicines and surgery failed to help, he found relief by creating a regimen drawing on yoga, meditation, and other alternative therapies. His program is sound, and his starting point valuable-rather than looking for an initiating catastrophic injury as the basis for designing treatment, chronic back pain sufferers would do better to understand their acute event as the culmination of years of stress, poor body mechanics, and possible weight and nutrition problems. His second important point is that almost all back pain originates in the muscles (rather than bone or other structures). This program is aimed, therefore at muscular fitness, principally with the extensive, progressive stretches based on yoga poses. Brownstein is careful to give appropriate cautions along the way: when to seek medical help, possible signs of serious disease. Nutritional advice, stress-reduction exercises, advice on lifestyle changes, and "Emotional and Spiritual Lessons for Healing" round out the program. Reliable advice for a common problem, with a spiritual/yoga flavor that will have special appeal for some sufferers. ($70,000 ad/promo; author tour) .