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Fixing You: Back Pain
Fixing You: Back Pain is an easy-to-use self-help guidebook for fixing just about every type of back pain. Written for laypeople, Fixing You: Back Pain guides you in discovering the root causes of your pain to eliminate it forever, rather than merely treating symptoms. Fixing You: Back Pain simplifies assessment and treatment by categorizing all back pain into three possible root problems. These problems can be easily corrected through the exercises found in this book. Readers will have free access to video clips of all the exercises by visiting www.FixingYou.net. No other book has ever done so much to help you beat your pain! Rick Olderman MSPT, CPT and Pilates instructor is a physical therapist with over a decade of experience working with difficult chronic and acute injuries. He lays out in simple explanations and instructions, exactly how to identify the causes of your back pain and how to fix them.
- GenresHealthNonfiction
124 pages, Paperback
Published November 2, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 4, 2019
I'm giving this book two stars instead of one because presumably the information it could conceivably help somebody.
However.
The author, rather than citing studies and data, simply implies that he is the best there is ("I know because I quickly became the busiest and highest-producing trainer/therapist at the club during my tenure there." p12 What did he "produce" and how did he measure it?). Then he launches into a couple chapters of "rah-rah" the-mind-can-heal-the-body blather, again not supported by data. His main evidence is the anecdote of the very strange case of a woman who periodically lost blood in her extremities after her husband had a heart attack. The author sets himself up as the brilliant hero of this story because he is the first of "doctors, specialists, herbalists, acupuncturists - you name it" (p22) to reassure her that her husband is fine and suggest that she talk to a therapist. She is instantly cured. It's a nice story, but it has no relation to shoulder pain.
The section of the book that actually talks about physical shoulder problems seems slightly dubious because it seems to imply that all shoulder/arm/hand problems are caused by the scapula being depressed and abducted. Again, there is no evidence cited, only clearly manufactured anecdotes with cutesy names like "Eldon's Elbow Pain" and "Barbara's Bum Shoulder", in which he discovers that all patients, no matter their symptoms, have the same scapula problem, he assigns them all the same exercises, and they all get better. I don't have any physical therapy training, but I've had multiple PTs and ballet teachers tell me that I carry my shoulders too high, so I suspect that his universal cure would not work for me. His only concession to this possibility in the book is "If your pain worsens, then your technique is incorrect or it is not the right exercise for you." p79. Classic blame-the-patient.
Setting aside his total lack of acknowledgement of the possibilities of other reasons for pain, he makes no concessions to the fact that this book is apparently written for a layperson trying to treat themselves in their own home. He helpfully tells us that "The top of the shoulder blade should sit roughly at the second (T2) or third (T3) thoracic vertebra" p58. First of all, it is impossible to check this on one's own body, especially since sore shoulders would prevent anybody from twisting their arm behind their back to palpate their own spine (and if they did, wouldn't that move their shoulder blade?) A decent self-help book would note that you need a friend you are comfortable being touched by, or a family member, to check this for you. A decent self-help book would also at least mention some tips for determining which bump is T2 (for instance, that C7 sticks out so you can count from there).
The next section asserts that "The vertical border of the scapula closest to the spine needs to be approximately three inches from the spine. This is true whether you're five feet tall or seven feet tall." p59. Really? A 40% increase in height has absolutely no difference on the distance between spine and shoulder blades? That can't possibly be true. What are his error bars on "approximately 3 inches"? And again, this is impossible to check on yourself (though after a session with two mirrors, a ruler, and a magic marker, I concluded that my scapula are "approximately" in the right place, so his second set of exercise prescriptions are unlikely to help me either).
In short, the book has an overly simplified approach, offers nothing about diagnosis, assumes an unreasonable level of anatomical vocabulary, and the author clearly wants to make money more than he cares about helping people help themselves.
However.
The author, rather than citing studies and data, simply implies that he is the best there is ("I know because I quickly became the busiest and highest-producing trainer/therapist at the club during my tenure there." p12 What did he "produce" and how did he measure it?). Then he launches into a couple chapters of "rah-rah" the-mind-can-heal-the-body blather, again not supported by data. His main evidence is the anecdote of the very strange case of a woman who periodically lost blood in her extremities after her husband had a heart attack. The author sets himself up as the brilliant hero of this story because he is the first of "doctors, specialists, herbalists, acupuncturists - you name it" (p22) to reassure her that her husband is fine and suggest that she talk to a therapist. She is instantly cured. It's a nice story, but it has no relation to shoulder pain.
The section of the book that actually talks about physical shoulder problems seems slightly dubious because it seems to imply that all shoulder/arm/hand problems are caused by the scapula being depressed and abducted. Again, there is no evidence cited, only clearly manufactured anecdotes with cutesy names like "Eldon's Elbow Pain" and "Barbara's Bum Shoulder", in which he discovers that all patients, no matter their symptoms, have the same scapula problem, he assigns them all the same exercises, and they all get better. I don't have any physical therapy training, but I've had multiple PTs and ballet teachers tell me that I carry my shoulders too high, so I suspect that his universal cure would not work for me. His only concession to this possibility in the book is "If your pain worsens, then your technique is incorrect or it is not the right exercise for you." p79. Classic blame-the-patient.
Setting aside his total lack of acknowledgement of the possibilities of other reasons for pain, he makes no concessions to the fact that this book is apparently written for a layperson trying to treat themselves in their own home. He helpfully tells us that "The top of the shoulder blade should sit roughly at the second (T2) or third (T3) thoracic vertebra" p58. First of all, it is impossible to check this on one's own body, especially since sore shoulders would prevent anybody from twisting their arm behind their back to palpate their own spine (and if they did, wouldn't that move their shoulder blade?) A decent self-help book would note that you need a friend you are comfortable being touched by, or a family member, to check this for you. A decent self-help book would also at least mention some tips for determining which bump is T2 (for instance, that C7 sticks out so you can count from there).
The next section asserts that "The vertical border of the scapula closest to the spine needs to be approximately three inches from the spine. This is true whether you're five feet tall or seven feet tall." p59. Really? A 40% increase in height has absolutely no difference on the distance between spine and shoulder blades? That can't possibly be true. What are his error bars on "approximately 3 inches"? And again, this is impossible to check on yourself (though after a session with two mirrors, a ruler, and a magic marker, I concluded that my scapula are "approximately" in the right place, so his second set of exercise prescriptions are unlikely to help me either).
In short, the book has an overly simplified approach, offers nothing about diagnosis, assumes an unreasonable level of anatomical vocabulary, and the author clearly wants to make money more than he cares about helping people help themselves.
August 27, 2016
Basic guide with a few helpful assessments. Only the very basics covered here, and very little about the elbow, as mentioned in the title. Still a good place to start if you want to alleviate pain in your shoulder(s).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews