****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This is a clear, comforting, gentle, supportive book, presenting a technique that combines western physical training, yoga "light," (there's no Sanskrit here, nor supernatural claims) and elements of Pilates. It's especially worth noting that this book addresses how to deal with the pain of a recent back injury, rather than just on-going long-term chronic back pain, too. After laying out basic anatomy, causes of back pain, and general recommendations to avoid causing future injury, Dr. Vad provides a stepwise progression of workout routines, escalating in difficulty/effort, and makes patient, slow-paced timeline recommendations for addressing the chronic issues we with back pain suffer.It does a surprisingly nice job of integrating western medicine with yoga and Pilates, with a feeling of mutual respect that is not too common, and is greatly appreciated. I'm dinging it one star, though, because it really could be a _special_ book if it managed to provide references to legitimate scientific studies supporting some of the claims. I know it's aimed at the layperson general reader, but since it does have a page dedicated to other resources, why not add a few supporting references? Including just two or three full-detail scientific citations would be a _huge_ boost to its credibility -- and turn it into a five-star, must-give-to-all-friends book... at least for those of us with a STEM degree and experience working in medical research. And, yeah, there's a touch too much "mind body" "follow the breath" and like squishyness for the left-brained cynic, and that may largely be lip service in an effort to combine east and west, but if that brings more readers in, and they subsequently get relief, I can't complain.Dr. Vad does get points, too, for addressing pseudo-medicine and medicine-adjacent therapies, in a fairer manner than others might, as he lays out alternative paths to pursue relief, if necessary. Case in point: He's nicer about chiropractic quacks than any MD I've met.If you're anywhere on the spectrum from "dammit! I can't get off the ground this hurts so much," through "man, my back is still kinda bugging me," to "I lost a chunk of 2015 to back pain, but I'm better now," there is help in this book for you. It won't be a magical only answer (we all know we weight loss is the best weapon against back pain, and I'm working on it, as well as some general behavior modification), but it does a very, very nice job of laying out routines along a series of levels of effort, with clear, helpful, simple explanations of how to perform them.I just wish a few of the bolder claims had citations.
