First off, I am a back and neck pain sufferer. I didn’t find anything new here. I had so many problems with this book. The doctor prescribed weight loss (diets fail 95-98% of the time, and leave you feeling like a failure). There is a chart of people ranging from thin to fat showing how the belly circumference hurts the back. It’s very distasteful. I have very bad back problems and have always been thin. He also talked about food having “potent pain-killing nutrients.” Um, no. That’s not a thing. I will not cure or even ease my pain by eating blueberries.

The other thing is this book is VERY comprehensive. I think it would do better narrowing the focus. I liked the part about how emotional pain is intrinsically linked to physical pain. It seems like this is just old information being put out in a new package.

Please look up Health At Every Size (HAES) as there is new research about weight and illness.

Connect with auther Dr.ken.us
Kkh@drken.us - email author

Thanks to NetGalley and Sounds True for this opportunity

I was looking forward to reading this book but was so disappointed, I DNF. I cannot believe this was written by a Doctor. What drew me to start with, was the acknowledgement of how significant a role psychology and activity can play in back pain. When starting to read, and the writing style was such that it is very much targeted to a person with little knowledge of basic anatomy, physiology or pain science. But as it progresses, it is clear that the content, has no supporting evidence or correlated with any current consensus regarding lower back or neck pain. Furthermore, just incorrect terminology which just reinforces myths and sigmas associated with such conditions ie. "back goes out" or the misguided results from the examples ie " I treated Jack with a local injection of anti-inflammatories and Marcaine, a topical numbing medicine. I pressed down on his back at the site and gently moved the facet joint. He was 50 percent better immediately". I just shook my head at that comment. Firstly, if you injected a "numbing medicine", his sensation is altered, so of course he will won't "feel" it and anti-inflammatories do not have an immediate effect. From there, I DNF. While I agree with treating pain holistically, this was just pseudoscience.


Thanks to NetGalley

As a longtime sufferers of back pain and sciatica I was drawn to this book for tips and ideas on how I might alter myna movement and life to positively impact the pain. I was not disappointed.

Watch Your Back is a self help book with tips and tricks on how to care for your back through your posture, exercises, and daily motions. It is simple and well vulgarized for non-medical people to understand how and why each aspect affects the well being of your back, and offers concrete ways to implement the changes in one's life.

If you suffer from back pain then this is the book for you!! It is very thorough yet very easy to understand. It looks at back pain from all aspects of your life and tells you in detailed descriptions and plans how you can improve in these areas. I also like how it would tell you what you should do best case scenario, but realize that life isn't perfect and then give you tips on how you can do your best. For example, bending over phones are awful for your spine but in all honestly not many of us are going to give up our phones, so it tells you if you have to use them, than this is the best way to hold your phone/body while you are doing it.

This is also the type of book that would be most beneficial if you owned an actual hard copy of it because it includes a lot of helpful tips, exercises, stretches and plans that you would go back and revisit often. Definitely recommend this book to the back pain sufferers out there.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

One doubt always accompany when it comes to such books. Are they really helpful or are they more harmful?

I would say the purpose of such books aren't published to replace medical treatment or expert diagnosis and prescription. However, as I have gone through the entire content list as well as through the chapters I feel the content of such books, especially this new upcoming book, aims to educate ourselves and be more open about a health condition which is quite common but something we tend to ignore until it get6 really bad.

The writing is as easy as talking to your bestie or to yourself you know!

You can expect almost none to very less usage of medical jargons which I feel is a very effective way of communicating through books with the one who's actually seeking for some basic help and understanding for their condition.

The diagrams are very basic. The reports and the case histories described in short are very much helpful to understand various causes of back pain.

The book does a very awesome job in giving the basic requirements we need to fulfill for our bodies to prevent back pain; what we can do and what we should include in our diet and some basic lifestyle changes we need to follow.

It's very easy to read and follow this book.

However, leave the book if your pain is chronic or acute. Go for a medical checkup as soon as you can.

I feel there's no need to include the 'without surgery' part in the title as it tends to give some wrong idea.

Thank you, Sounds True, for the advance review copy.