A BIT OF PHYSIO STUFF Some patients have asked me for books that might help them with stress or persistent pain. I tried to avoid anything too technical (though some at the bottom of the list can be hard going in places) or too ‘esoteric’ or ‘flighty’ – the stuff that is sometimes referred to as ‘far left-field’. It is unlikely that these books will appeal to every patient – I’ve even encountered patients who rejected the idea that books contained anything useful at all. In a way they are right – you could read all the books in the world to no avail. To effect change one must think and act differently. Pain is a complex experience of the whole human being – in this, it is like love; perhaps that’s why these two experiences so often accompany each other. Pain, like love, is both complicated and startlingly simple at the same time. They both have mysteries, inexplicable conundrums, non-sequiturs, poetry, their own language. We know that other people are involved in the ‘pain experience’, yet the person in pain may feel deeply alone. Our culture, our education and our upbringing affect our perceptions and burden us with certain assumptions. But when it comes to Pain: “A lot of what you think, and most of what you know, just ain’t so”. Not only is it ‘not so’, it isn’t helpful. There is a lot of important ‘unlearning’ to be done. Heres one list - obviously some are for selected patients only A Leg to Stand On, Oliver Sacks Full Catastrophe Living, Jon Kabat-Zinn Teach Us To Sit Still, Tim Parkes Wherever you go, there you are, Jon Kabat-Zinn On Anger, Thich Nhat Hanh The Power of Now, Eckart Tolle Dissolving Pain: Simple Brain-Training, Exercises for Overcoming Chronic Pain, Les Fehmi Awareness, Anthony de Mello Buddha’s Brain, Rick Hanson Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, Robert Sapolsky Explain Pain, D. Butler and L. Moseley The Puzzle of Pain, Patrick Wall The Back Pain Revolution (2nd Ed), Gordon Waddell
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 17:48:09 +0000
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