Back Pain Understood: A Book Review by Jane Thurnell-Read

Back Pain Understood is subtitled A Cutting-Edge Approach To Healing Your Back. It is a comprehensive look at back pain that covers a lot of ground in an easy to understand way.

The book is well organised making it easy to find the information you want. There are detailed anatomical diagrams and explanations of the physiology of pain. It looks at diagnostic tests, including radiographs and MRI. There’s detailed information on the different drugs that might be prescribed – anti-inflammatory, analgesics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, etc.

Treatments covered in the book include physical therapy, massage therapy, epidural injections, laminectomy, etc. There is a short look at the mind-body connection, which I would have liked to have been more comprehensive, but apart from that this is an excellent book.

The final sections of the book are taken up with specific types of pain, e.g. lumbar degenerative disc disease, facet pain, sacroiliac pain, chronic pain syndrome, etc. Each topic is divided up into sections: clinical presentation, cause, physical examination, diagnostic studies, treatment considerations, mind-body considerations, illustrative case and summary points.

Brain Hainline, the author, pulls off a difficult feat – producing a book that is packed with information, but very accessible to read. Dr Hainline is Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine and clearly has a breadth of knowledge and experience of dealing with patients with back pain.

In the introduction Brian says:

We have no universally accepted understanding of low back pain in its myriad presentations … Many overlap, and many diverge. Although I cannot assume to have a unifying answer for all, this book is an attempt to find common ground among the seeming disarray of low back pain world views.

I urge anyone with back pain who is going down the normal medical route to read this book – it will give you knowledge and understanding to help you be a partner in the decisions that are made about investigation and treatment of your pain. If you are a therapist without specific detailed training in the causes and treatment of back pain, this is an ideal book to bring you up to speed quickly. It is a book to dip into to look for information on a particular drug or class of drugs, or to find out more about a particular type of back pain. It can also be read from cover to cover for a thorough grounding in back pain. The title of the book is Back Pain Understood. After reading this book you will feel that you know a lot more about back pain and the treatment options.

Copyright 2008 Jane Thurnell-Read Online Natural Health Shop