Back Sense Quotes

“2. Medical science has often ignored the power of the mind to affect the body. The idea that the mind and body have great influence on each other first fell out of favor during the 1500s. Scientists of the time began to think of the body as a sort of machine.”
― Ronald D. Siegel, Back Sense: A Revolutionary Approach to Halting the Cycle of Chronic Back Pain

“People in developing countries frequently do all of the things that make us fear for our backs: they engage in hard physical labor, sleep on primitive mattresses, walk long distances in worn shoes, ride in uncomfortable vehicles on bumpy roads, and receive limited medical care. If chronic back pain were really due to structural damage, we would expect them to have terrible back problems. They don’t. Doctors working in these areas report that people rarely complain of back pain (in the United States, back pain is second only to colds and flu as a reason for physician visits).”
― Ronald D. Siegel, Back Sense: A Revolutionary Approach to Halting the Cycle of Chronic Back Pain

“Conventional treatments miss the real cause of most back trouble—they simply don’t address the stress and muscle pain problem. Most treatments also emphasize “taking it easy,” “trying not to hurt yourself,” or waiting for the pain to go away before resuming activity. Yet all the research and our experience with patients show that a quick return to unrestricted physical movement is the fastest and surest way to recovery.”
― Ronald D. Siegel, Back Sense: A Revolutionary Approach to Halting the Cycle of Chronic Back Pain

“While the findings may shock you, researchers now understand that these individuals recovered most likely because they believed strongly that they were cured by the surgery. The back surgery patients were otherwise unexceptional. They were not “hypochondriacs” or especially suggestible hypnotic subjects. It turns out that mere belief is an influence on the outcome of all sorts of medical conditions and procedures. This influence is far more powerful than most people, including many doctors, realize. We will examine this more closely in the next chapter.”
― Ronald D. Siegel, Back Sense: A Revolutionary Approach to Halting the Cycle of Chronic Back Pain