Rapid Recovery from Back & Neck Pain: A Nine Step Recovery Plan - Softcover

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Fred Amir is the recipient of the University of Californias Knowles Ryerson Award for Leadership, a registered environmental health specialist, and the founder and president of Health Solutions.

Health Solutions is a health consulting and educational firm specializing in empowering individuals with knowledge and strategies to maximize their innate abilities for better health. Freds seminars, titled Rapid Recovery from Chronic Pain, The Road to Wellness, and Living by Design, have helped others recover rapidly to live pain-free and much healthier and happier lives. Fred has conducted seminars for University of California, Office of the President; CIGNA Group Insurance; Iowa State University; and other organizations.

Fred is an avid reader who believes in life-long learning and is a student of martial arts, having studied kenpo karate and tae kwon do. He lives with his wife and two children in the greater San Jose area.

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Introduction

Rapid recovery from back and neck pain?! Sounds too good to be possible. But it is. I know, because I have experienced this phenomenon firsthand. After months of suffering from chronic pain in my back, neck, legs, knees, arms, and hands, and total disability-after months of going from one doctor to another with no cure in sight-I was able to recover within four days to live an active and productive life. Others with recurrent or chronic pain have also experienced this rapid recovery following the proven techniques described in this book.

This book provides you with the scientific research on the cause of most back, neck, and hand pain and shows how you can get rid of the pain quickly and easily. Those who have attended my seminars on rapid recovery from chronic pain and have applied these techniques have noticed significant improvements within a few hours to a few days, and complete recovery shortly afterward.

Skeptical? A healthy dose of skepticism is a good thing. I am very scientific-minded and skeptical myself. When I'm presented with new ideas and new possibilities, though, I do my best to keep an open mind-especially when it comes to my health. I ask you to do the same. Question what you read, but be open to new possibilities. The only way you are ever going to get well is to take charge of this debilitating condition, by learning all you can about it and being willing to take action. Indeed, knowledge is power!

If you suffer from chronic or recurrent back, neck, or hand pain, you know how difficult it can be to find a cure. If you are frustrated, as I was, by the ineffective treatments you have received and want to live a pain-free life again, this book will show you how. It takes you along on my search, like a detective's, for clues to solve the mystery of my back pain-a mystery because back pain baffles even doctors and surgeons who specialize in treating it. The frustrated patients of these back pain specialists, instead of getting answers or effective treatment, may hear: "Well, that's how back pain is!" Or worse: "You just have to learn to live with it."

In contrast, this book will tell you about the revolutionary discovery and treatment program from New York University and give you a nine-step rapid recovery plan made up of easy yet highly effective techniques used by Olympic athletes.

BACK FACTS KEPT SECRET!

If you have read the back-pain literature, you have probably come across the following facts:
* Eight out of ten adults suffer from back pain at some point in their lives.
* Back problems are second only to sore throat as this nation's most common ailment.
* Nineteen million doctor visits are made for back pain annually.
* Eight million new cases of back pain occur every year.
* Back pain is the leading cause of work-related disability.

As I searched the medical literature for information on back pain, however, I discovered some very amazing statistics-statistics rarely found in books on back pain and usually not mentioned by back specialists. Did you know the following surprising facts?
* "Surgery has been found to be helpful in only 1 in 100 cases of low back pain. In some people, surgery can even cause more problems." So concluded the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after conducting a comprehensive study of more than 10,000 cases of back pain.1 Even though I knew back surgery was not a very effective treatment for most people, I was a little shocked to learn that 99 percent of the time it fails to help patients.
* "Injecting methylyprednisolone acetate [cortisone] into the facet joints is of little value in the treatment of patients with chronic low back pain." This was the conclusion of a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.2 Researchers found no significant improvement in patients who received a cortisone shot compared to those who were given a shot of saline solution (salt water) in their facet joints or herniated discs!3
* "Treatments [for whiplash-associated disorders] evaluated in a rigorous manner show little or no evidence of efficacy." This finding was the result of an exhaustive study conducted at McGill University.4

Researchers found treatments ranging from neck collar to traction to be of little or no value. 5

Even though these surprising facts have appeared in some of the most authoritative and prestigious medical journals, you will not learn this crucial information from most back and neck specialists, inside or outside the medical profession. Indeed, these treatments are used so widely that you may be shocked to learn that they don't work! So take a minute to read over these conclusions of respected medical experts again, to empower yourself to make better decisions regarding your treatment options and avoid ineffective surgeries and shots.

Why is it that conventional treatments fail to cure back and neck pain? Because, as The New England Journal of Medicine puts it, "Up to 85 percent of patients with low back pain cannot be given a definitive diagnosis."7 That's right-up to 85 percent! No wonder most of these treatments fail. As the saying goes, "Correct diagnosis is half the cure!" Without the right diagnosis, how can we expect an effective treatment? As you will see in this section, according to the published scientific research most of the common diagnoses for chronic back pain are unfounded.

You can already see that this book is unique in its approach to back pain. But my aim in this book is not simply to help you avoid useless treatments. In addition, the book provides you with empowering concepts and effective techniques for a rapid and complete recovery. Just imagine being free of pain: moving freely without pain as your guide; sitting and sleeping comfortably; feeling young and healthy again. These are some of the many wonderful benefits I and many others have enjoyed, and I believe you will too.