How to Retrain Your Nervous System,
Heal Your Body, and Overcome Chronic Pain
Description
We’ve been sold a lie: The world tells us that pain is inevitable, that our bodies must break down as we age, and that there’s nothing we can do about it. Researchers develop new drugs to manage our pain; surgeons dream up new techniques to repair worn-out joints. But we never truly feel better.
Here’s the shocking truth: The vast majority of the pain that plagues our aging bodies is self-inflicted. It’s caused by the way we use our bodies every day—the way we sit, the way we stand, the way we walk and run. But with simple exercises, anybody can learn to heal their chronic musculoskeletal pain, and prevent future pain, injury, and joint problems from developing.
The Pain Relief Secret explores the fascinating science of pain, and instructs readers in Clinical Somatics, a method of neuromuscular education that relieves chronic muscle tightness, restores natural posture and movement, and eliminates pain—all without medication or surgery.
Students of Clinical Somatics have healed from chronic back pain, joint and nerve pain, scoliosis, and many other common pain conditions—all without medication or surgery. Best of all, Clinical Somatics puts the power in your hands. You don’t need special training or expensive repeat visits to a physical therapist. Clinical Somatics exercises are practiced on your own and in your very own home.
This is The Pain Relief Secret—your key to taking back your body from a lifetime of pain. This book is great for anyone who has tried chiropractic treatments, naturopathy, yoga, physiotherapy, or massage therapy and still experiences chronic pain.
- Yoga, Pilates, massage, or meditation
- Natural healing
- Curing sciatica, TMJ, iliopsoas syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoarthritis pain, and other common pain conditions
- Lower back pain relief
- CARS (Controlled Articular Rotations) or FRC (Functional Range Conditioning)Thomas Hanna or Moshe Feldenkrais
Details
- Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
- Title: The Pain Relief Secret
- Author: Sarah Warren
- Genre: Non-Fiction
- Audience: Adult
- Length: 255 pages
- Publisher: TCK Publishing
- Release Date: September 1, 2019
- Recommended for fans of: Learning and in need of answers
My Thoughts
Who isn’t looking for some pain relief? In today’s world as we age, don’t we all have something outta whack?
The author, Sarah Warren, is a Certified Clinical Somatic Educator, so if you’re familiar with Clinical Somatics then you will be ahead of me. Here is a good definition of what it is and does.
From the Somatic Movement Center
Most chronic pain, joint degeneration, and recurring injuries are caused by the way we use our bodies – the way we sit, stand, and move throughout our lives. And our nervous system is responsible for telling us how to use our bodies. Our nervous system tells us which muscles to contract, when to release them, and how to hold our bodies when we’re just sitting or standing still.
As we grow up, our nervous system actually learns how to make us do these things. The more we repeat a certain posture or movement, the more deeply learned that muscular pattern becomes. After a while, our patterns become so deeply learned that we don’t even have to think about them. This is what we call muscle memory.
Muscle memory is a wonderful thing, because it allows us to get through our daily lives efficiently. But unfortunately, sometimes we learn patterns that damage our bodies–like sitting hunched over at a computer. The only way to change these deeply learned muscular patterns is to re-educate the nervous system.
And that is what Clinical Somatics does. It engages the nervous system in an active learning process that consists of very slow, focused, conscious movements. The movement techniques used in Clinical Somatics teach the nervous system how to release chronic muscle tension and stand and move in natural, efficient ways so that you aren’t putting yourself in pain or doing damage to your body.
Interesting, isn’t it? And it makes perfect sense. But if you’re looking for an immediate cure-all recipe for pain, this may not be it. Most likely your pain didn’t come on overnight, and it will no doubt take some time to get back on track to pain-free. Or at least pain-better living.
The book begins by taking you on a journey of information, which at times might feel too clinical, but I found myself enjoying it. Among other things, it offered information as to why traditional pain reducing methods don’t provide long-term solutions.
As Clinical Somatics is approached there is back history and reasons why it could provide lasting help for conditions that are not the result of infection, activity level, disease, genetics, etc. This type of help is directed to pain that is more neuromuscular.
The more I read the more excited I became. Our lifestyle and posture has to be a contributing factor to pain. Things such as crunching up shoulders, rolling shoulders in, tilting lower back and hips, are things many of us are guilty of. Can it be as simple as correcting these things?
If you’re willing to give this a try, you will find some easy to follow video URLs included. My first thought was, “Huh? The exercises aren’t in the book?” But after opening up some examples I saw that it was so much easier to watch the whole exercise rather than see a sketch in a book.
My Concerns
I think it’s important to realize upfront that the exercises need to be accessed online.
Some may be concerned with the fact that there is so much information leading up to Clinical Somatics and the exercises.
Final Thoughts
I did enjoy the front part of the book and felt it was necessary to an understanding of pain and Clinical Somatics.
As a chronic pain sufferer who is currently using medication to help with pain, I’m definitely going to try these methods. Some of my pain can’t be helped due to several back surgeries. But I feel Clinical Somatics will certainly offer some relief.
My reason for that conclusion? Common sense.
Correcting such things as poor posture, or overtaxed areas of the body, has to eliminate pain and relax the body, if even to a small degree.
My thanks to TCK Publishing for a copy of this book. I appreciate the fact that they encourage me to post my honest thoughts regarding any of their books.
Rating
4.5 but I round up
About the Author
Sarah Warren is a Certified Clinical Somatic Educator, Registered Somatic Movement Educator, and author of the book The Pain Relief Secret. She was trained and certified at Somatic Systems Institute in Northampton, MA. Sarah has helped people with chronic muscle and joint pain, sciatica, scoliosis and other musculoskeletal conditions become pain-free by practicing Thomas Hanna’s groundbreaking method of Clinical Somatic Education. Sarah is passionate about empowering people to relieve their own pain, improve their posture and movement, and prevent recurring injuries and physical degeneration.
