Explain Pain (Discontinued)

A single page in "Explain Pain" was enough to justify the price that I paid for the book. It told me that nerve damage in the back can cause swelling in the foot, and told me how it does it. When a nerve pinch sends pain signals up to the central nervous system, it also sends nerve impulses down to the terminal ends of the nerve fibers, where inflammatory chemicals are released, causing neurogenic inflammation.Two years ago, the piriformis muscle in my right buttock went into spasm to help stabilize my right sacroiliac joint. It pinched my sciatic nerve, which caused referred pain in my right leg below the knee. This is called Piriformis Syndrome. During the last two years, my right leg has also been swollen below the knee. Before I read "Explain Pain", I did not know that my edema and my referred pain had a single cause, but now I know that I can't get rid of the edema until I get rid of the nerve pinch.This was a great surprise for me, because I have never seen any indication in Piriformis Syndrome case histories that edema is an essential part of Piriformis Syndrome. However, if doctors do not know that edema and referred pain have the same cause, they will not report edema as part of a Piriformis Syndrome case history.

I had chronic lower back pain for over 7 years. This pain was RUINING MY LIFE - specifically my ability to do the things I love - more on that in a minute...The short summary is - this book will teach you the current state-of-the-art medical science on "Human Pain" - how the human pain system works, how you can better understand and manage it, and how to move beyond your pain's ability to negatively affect or even dominate your life. This book, I believe, is mainly used as a "text book" by the authors, and their organization, to teach medical professionals all over the world about the latest medical knowledge of the science and application of human pain.About me - I am 49 years old - and have played and competed in all of the traditional American sports my whole life - and I have also raced motorcycles, scuba dived, I snowboard and ski, snow shoe, run, weight train, ride and race mountain bikes... ALL of this had slowly come to a halt. My "active lifestyle" was finally catching up with me - or so it seemed. I could barely walk...I was in pain almost constantly - sitting, standing, walking... I was very very afraid that my life as I had known it was "over".This book was recommended to me by a Physical Therapist at The Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, in Boulder Colorado - in response to my question "How can I get better educated about 'Pain' - how it works, and how I can better understand and deal with it?"My PT recommended this book, "Explain Pain". I immediately went home and ordered it from Amazon. And then I took it with me on a 10-day vacation to Hawaii...And here is what I did while I was there:1. I "Speed Read" the whole thing - in probably 2-hours. I noticed the book was unusual - and intriguing - and it contained a LOT of information I had never seen or heard before.2. Next - I read each chapter slowly and carefully - 1 chapter/day - and I highlighted, wrote notes and thoughts in the margins, etc. It is a truly fascinating read.3. Because I REALLY wanted to learn and remember and apply the information presented - each day, before I read a new chapter - I re-read, fairly quickly, all the previous pages I had read, and reviewed my notes and highlights.4. Finally - after finishing the book - I DID EXACTLY what the book recommends in the final chapter with regard to "moving forward with your life - healing and moving beyond your pain" - and IT WORKED. 100%. It really worked. These people are geniuses...Net results?In addition to working for several months with a wonderful PT, and following her advice and doing all my exercises and stretches - I resumed ALL my previous activities:- I resumed mountain bike racing - and had one of my best seasons ever- I had my greatest season of snowboarding in 25 years - keeping up with, and somtimes outlasting, my 17-year-old daughter and her friends- I can run, lift weights, snow shoe, sit, walk, stand, sleep... all 100% pain free. AND at a level that is stronger than I could do 10 years agoI would recommend you buy this book if you suffer from ANY kind of chronic pain [physical OR emotional], get a good Physical Therapist/Trainer to support you - and use your new knowledge to help "heal" your pain, and dramatically improve your life.Good Luck!

Shipped as expected and delivered much earlier! This is a fabulous book; illustrations are a bit bizarre and unsettling, so I just ignore most of them. The graphs are very good. And the written content is wonderful. I am recovering from a destroyed nerve injury in my foot and now much better understand *why* there is tingling and sometimes pain. My first PT didn't understand nerve injury and aggravated it by being too aggressive. Now I have an exceptional PT who understands pain and who recommended this book. We are slowly and gradually raising the threshhold of activity, and I am thrilled to be making such great progress after being in an orthopedic boot for 5 months. I'm not any longer on pins and needles waiting in fear for some pain or tingling to happen unexpectedly. I just take it in stride and understand this is part of the recovery. I am so grateful for this approach to pain - have weaned off neurontin very quickly as well - another part of reprogramming your brain about pain.

I purchased this book on the recommendation of my physical therapist. It is an incredible book.It's written in such a way that you can tell the authors really want you to understand something they feel passionate about. It has just enough text to explain the main concepts behind pain, no superfluous text at all. It is not dry like a text book. I feel that any person with pain will find this book interesting enough to want to read it. I can't wait to reread it and explore all the suggested texts.Unlike some other reviewers, I absolutely love the artwork. There is one image of the pain sufferer being led on an endless path of worry and fear by pain, but branching off to better days when they find the knowledge to understand their condition. I feel like I am that person, and this book gave me that knowledge.Can't wait to see what lies ahead.

Absolutely brilliant book helped me to understand lower back pain and pain in the body and hair travels around the body

The book was recommended to me by an intrinsic biomechanics expert and it helps to explain pain and how clever the brain is. Great for explaining pain to clients

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOK ON THE TOPIC OF EXPLAINING PAIN ON A VERY BASIC AND SOMETIMES EVEN FUNNY LEVEL. iT'S EASY TO UNDERSTAND AND I WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO ALL PHYSIOTHERAPISTS AND TO EVREBODY WHO WOULD LIKE TO UNDERSTAND PAIN AND IT'S WAYS OF WORKING.IT'S A GREAT, GREAT BOOK!

Condition as described

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand pain especially if they suffer from chronic pain of any kind.It is informative, intelligent yet easy to understand and I love the humour of the drawings. Although it is expensive it is well worth having your own copy to help in the management of pain.