Long-winded, confusing, self justifying without any real new information. I'm sure there's more here than I was able to root out, but I was looking for a quick fix during a period of prolonged pain. Not the magic bullet I needed.

Another book read in my never ending quest for pain relief that doesn't include medications nor pan pills with their many nasty side effects. This book covers many types of pain and the conditions that cause them. As all didn't apply to me I skipped around. I can't say that this offered anything new or different from others I have read, but it did reinforce the importance of diet. This is definitely an area I can improve on, making more of an effort to avoid the foods that cause inflammation.

He does examine and offer cases of real people who have been successful with various alternative treatments, many of which I have unsuccessfully tried. He mentions hypnosis, which I tried twice, I seem to be resistant to hypnosis, go figure. At the time I had great hopes for that alternative.

He does mention additional reading resouces which I may or may not pursue, and of course his own website. He is a reknown physician do he has sent and dealt with much.

ARC from Netgalley.

As someone with chronic back pain this book gave me some invaluable information. I had lost confidence and was afraid to exercise in case I caused damage. However after reading this I have taken up Pilates and aquafit and feel much better and find exercise does really help. The book gave information that is difficult to get from medics.

A very informative book with fantastic methods to easing pain which were found to be very helpful! I enjoyed the interviews and experiences from fellow sufferers too.

I thought this was an excellent, in depth and wide-ranging resource for anyone experiencing pain, and for carers too.

If you want to know why the author wrote this book, here’s his reason: “As a physician, nothing is more frustrating than watching your patients suffer and feeling like you can’t do anything about it.”
Amid long stories about celebrities like Patrick Swayze, JFK, and Elvis, used to illustrate particular chapters, there’s brief explanations about various illness and injuries, followed by several treatments, with emphasis on unconventional methods. Of course some chapters are going to be more important to each reader than others, so it’s easy to skip a few that you might have no interest in. For instance, when I was reading one of the chapters toward the end I was wondering if stem cells would be included, and a few pages later it was (and it turned out to be much more involved than a simple injection, and painful!). At the same time I passed over subchapters that featured diseases I’d never heard of and wasn’t likely to get. Because everything but the kitchen sink is included, it gets boring quickly. Listing every medicine doesn’t help. At this point it becomes more of a reference book in case it does become relevant to you.
There’s suggested further reading after each chapter, as well as episodes from the author’s podcast. I tried a few, but like this book it was long and rambling. I do have to say it got better as it went along. Though there’s still plenty that went over my head with the not-well-enough-explained medical terms, I did feel like I ended up grasping more than other such “for the masses” medical books. Maybe it was the word use, maybe it was the tone. Perhaps the experience he has from the podcast makes him seem more approachable here too. Still could have been better, though.

Having a husband who suffers with chronic back and related leg pain, this book caught my attention. The book covers a wide range of topics, but I found most of the information to be general and not especially helpful. I didn't care to read about the personal stories of celebrities and how they treated their conditions. This is not a book that I will turn to for advice or recommendations for treating chronic pain. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I hadn’t heard of this book before I spotted it on NetGalley but I was immediately intrigued by it and so requested it. I suffer from severe chronic pain due to a spinal cord injury and have spent the last couple of years working with my medical team to manage my pain in a better way so Aches and Gains was a book that appealed to me.

Aches and Gains covers a broad spectrum of conditions that cause pain, and how to treat them so some of it was not relevant to me but all of the book was still interesting as it’s helpful to learn how various kinds of pain can be helped by certain treatments. I was pleased to find a mention of my condition in this book with an overview and suggestions of how to manage the particular type of pain that I suffer from. I’ve done a lot of research into the neuropathic pain I suffer from, and have had help from various specialists and can honestly say that most of what I learnt is reinforced in this book. It’s important to consider a holistic approach to managing pain – to look at how stress and how the mind can affect how the body reacts to pain, as well as looking at the most up-to-date medical interventions that may help too. The book is written in an easy-to-follow way, and it’s a book that can be read cover-to-cover or you can use it as a reference guide for specific painful medical conditions.

Aches and Gains feels like reassurance in book form. The easy style of writing that makes it easy to get your head around, even when struggling with pain. The celebrity interviews that are interspersed at relevant points throughout the book are interesting too because it’s always helpful to read about the experience of someone who has been through something similar to you.

This is definitely a book that I will be keeping hold of and will re-read the parts relevant to my health before my next pain clinic appointment so I can discuss some of the treatment possibilities.

Aches and Gains is a book that gives hope that there might still be an unexplored avenue that could help with the pain you might be in, and that is worth such a lot. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is suffering from chronic pain, or to anyone who cares for someone who is suffering with pain. Not all of the book will be directly relevant to you but it’s an easy-to-use guide to a whole range of conditions and it seemed to me that there would be something useful to anyone who picks the book up.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Aches and Gains is out now!

I don't usually read this type of book, but I have chronic pain, so I was intrigued. However, a few chapters into the book left me bored. I think the content was very opinion based and it didn't present me with anything I didn't already know.

This title would be good for use in an academic setting, but not for a casual reader. The author sometimes uses terms with which most readers would not be familiar and therefore, would be hard for a patient or caregiver to understand without consulting their medical professional. The text is much better suited for the medical field and could make an satisfactory textbook. The author restates enough background information that each chapter can be read separately and would stand alone for learning about each specific topic.

I'm not quite sure who this book is for--It is too general to deliver much information for those suffering from specific pain conditions. I suppose if you are looking for this type of information, it saves some Googling and or looking through many other books, but much of material in the book appears to be readily available from other sources. Although I can't be sure, the celebrity stories also appear to be derived from secondary sources rather than the author having done personal interviews with them. This is one to check out from the public library.

Full Disclosure--Net Gallery and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

Very informative and covers many ailments. Information easily read without the writing being filled with not easy to understand medical jargon.

Wasn't exactly what I was expecting.I was hoping for a some new takes on pain relief. Not a bad book, and I am sure someone reading this book may well find it helpful. It has lots of info on various ailments that cause pain and suggestions for treating them.