Pain free for life? That sounds impossible when doctors throw up their hands and admit they don’t have a clue about the cause of serious back pain. Brady and Proctor show the true causes of some pain. Brady suffered at least fifteen years with severe lower back pain. He went through all the diagnostic procedures available today and came up with nothing but pain.
Are you in this situation today? If so, are you ready to address mental and emotional issues that may be the true cause of your pain? Brady shares his quest for pain relief—to the point of going to visit a doctor that claims that emotional issue lie beneath most undiagnosed pain issues. He claims that “negative emotions” long buried make their presence known as pain.
The authors talk about our Autonomic Overload Syndrome (AOS) symptoms and provide a list of chronic pain conditions resulting from this problem. They show how we are conditioned to answer questions about why we suffer from things like back pain by saying “we have a weak back” or similar statements. He states:
It’s been my experience that back pain is indeed a signal that something is wrong—but it’s often not structural. In most cases, the problem is that overwhelming levels of stress and buried, repressed emotions such as anger, fear, and anxiety have given rise to autonomic hyperactivity. The result is muscle spasms, transient lack of oxygen to the tissues, and chronic pain—Autonomic Overload Syndrome. The great news, for many suffers of chronic back pain, is that the Pain-Free for Life Program addresses the very roots of AOS so that you can reverse the problem and make the pain disappear once and for all. [Pages 60-61].
Spiritual Health
I really connected with this book when it began talking about how our spiritual health affects our physical health. His checklist can be very revealing, particularly for those with little or no religious faith. He walks us through the Bible showing us where people like King David (Old Testament) talked about illness as the result of sin in their lives.
The doctor shows us how all the stresses of life overtax our brain and other parts of our nervous system resulting in every thing from skin problems to muscle spasms. Quite literally, our thoughts, even those we have repressed, make our body act like it is sick. He covers many of the issues we bring up to explain our pain and shows us what a pain-prone personality is like.
6 Week Cure for Pain
The doctor’s 6 week cure consists of five steps:
- Establish a Strong Mind-Body-Spirit Link
- Take Control over your Subconscious Mind
- Write about Your Emotions
- Spend time in Prayer and Meditation
- Resume Physical Activity
Each step is explained fully in language that anyone can understand. Of course, understanding it, and actually putting it into practice are different things altogether.
Recommendation
I’ve read many books on chronic pain, since I am a sufferer. This book is the first one to give me hope that I can overcome some problems and at least reduce the pain I live with. Therefore, I’d challenge everyone suffering like I do, to read this book carefully. Perhaps you should even take it to your Doctor and ask them to encourage you as you put it into action. The author has convinced me that it is possible to overcome the results of our subconscious mind and experience health improvement as a result.
Scott Brady, MD and William Proctor. Pain Free for Life. Center Street, Hachette Book Group USA, 2006.
