Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living: A practical approach to eliminating chronic back pain, tendonitis, neck and shoulder tension, and repetitive stress

Craig Williamson's Book MUSCULAR RETRAINING FOR PAIN-FREE LIVING, CHANGED MY LIFE! MY FAULTY CURRENT STATE OF AWARENESS 8-12-2011 8-12-2011: I have had a long life of pain. I know all about doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, Orthopedic surgeons, acupuncturists, being in traction stretched from my neck as well as my hips while I lay in a hospital bed staring at a stain on the ceiling, and suffering many, many falls, besides developing bad movement patterns and ultimately, being diagnosed with Orthopedic Arthritis requiring total hip replacement surgery so I could again walk, and suffering 24/7 heinous pain. I would go see one of the aforementioned professionals, and get some relief for a while, and then something would happen and the cycle of pain would continue. This time, with the Orthopedic Arthritis, my body went into a complete downward spiral of heinous pain, with absolutely no relief either before or following this surgery. My body became a rigid trunk of jammed muscles from my feet to my head. But, the doctors, physical therapists as well as well-meaning folks at the local gyms, told me I needed to press in on doing my therapy exercises, pushing my muscles to gain strength. Oh the agony 24/7! I've been ready to leave this life! Out of absolute desperation, I came across Craig Williamson's book Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living. I read about this book, just has you have done. I purchased it. I read Part 1 for learning how my body works and should work. This took me 1 ½ months to really read Part 1. Then, on 7-15-2011 - less than 3 weeks ago, I commenced with a few of his specific therapy exercises listed in Part 2. I also made precise corrections to the exercises other professionals promote for my recovery from total hip replacement surgery that haven't worked. These professionals here on the West Coast are all into speed, sweat, and pushing yourself. THAT is NOT the way to get the attention of muscles to relax them and to allow oxygen to flow throughout your body (at least not throughout my body). I ensure I do those exercises exactly the way Craig Williamson preaches in this book which is to be slower than a snail in doing the therapy exercises. I am retraining my muscles to work correctly. Each day sees even more breakthroughs as I get in touch with the body I've never known -- ever. The exercises feel so enervating: I'm out of my 24/7 pain I've suffered with forever so many years, and the therapy exercises feel most enervating! So, don't procrastinate! Buy the book. Buy 3 and give one to your doctor, give one to your physical therapist, and keep one for yourself: use it and promote this paradigm book to everyone. Living your life without pain will be your reward. Then, the drug companies will have to figure out another way to make their money and we'll stop abusing our bodies relying on pain pills which may damage our immune systems making us sicker and sicker! UPDATE 2-25-2015 I'd love to say that I continued to improve from where I was in July of 2011. As I recall (this is now 2-25-2015), that happy experience of being without pain lasted into September of 2011. Then, since I was doing so well with the exercises which concentrated on my lower body, I thought I should commence to add the exercises for the upper body. Wow! was that EVER a mistake! The excruciating pain returned and I balled up into a fetal position in my bed, in such absolute misery. All that kept me going was my faith in God, my daily prayers, a positive attitude, 1,000 mil. monthly of Oxycodone and daily vegetating in my recliner. The pain spiraled downward becoming ever so much worse. I'd walk with my walker taking 2 hours to walk outside 5 blocks. My life was filled with seeing ever so many doctors about this and that. My pill regime dramatically increased, and I increasingly became allergic to this and that and the other whatever pill or food. I even suffered 3 horrendous concussions (my car ran over me, the ladder slid and I fell while cleaning the gutter for my roof, and I did a slip and fall on black ice) which brought for 2 weeks or so each time in the hospital, first in a loonie bin, and then in ICU, most seriously in physical screaming pain, besides 24/7 vertigo, loss of memory, confusing the color of apricots (anything orange) with that of an artichoke (or anything green), loss of knowing ... anything. I really don't know what was worse: the constant screaming pain which had been with me for 7 long and agonizing years, the nighttime thrashing of my bed with restless leg syndrome, the vertigo which kept me dizzy 24/7, or the loss of knowing anything. Then, the absolute impossible happened. SUPERNATURAL MARK 5:34 HEALING Commencing 4-10-2013 Yes, our Lord told me in my Journal writings that I could ask and would receive a Mark 5:34 supernatural healing of all my diseases, torments and confusions, etc. In my Journal He had told me this quite a while before, but my mind and brain were so addled with pain, that it never registered what He said to me in the spirit of my mind and which I dutifully recorded in my Journal. But, because I had shared what He told me in my journal with a friend, and she gasped when I related that I would be supernaturally healed, I finally realized our Lord had said something very special to me regarding me being healed! So, on 4-10-2013 I asked our Lord at 9:55 a.m. for this healing. He immediately responded by having my Grandfather Clock which had a broken spring in it, actually commence chiming precisely at 10:00 a.m. To this day (2-25-2015) that clock has continued to chime every 15 minutes. I was also instantaneously released from any pain and therefore, had absolutely no need any more for any liquid Oxycodone. The Vertigo (dizziness) rapidly dissipated as well. My brain commenced healing. However, our Lord told me my healing would be gradual and that I should have patience because my healings would be layer by layer by layer. Yes, the need for the 1,000 mil. monthly of Oxycodone was immediately removed from me, followed by some 32 other medical challenges. Yet, I had had such a multiplicity of issues in my body, but especially with my brain and mind, that it has been an incredible and most exciting learning experience ever since! Because Craig Williamson had been so helpful to me back in 2011, talking with me over the telephone on a few occasions (he in Maine and me in the State of Washington), I recontacted him to let him know this exciting and incredible news, seeking further help. So, with this delightful and most surprising supernatural healing which commenced 4-10-2013 @ 10:00 a.m., I e-mailed Craig Williamson who advised me to spend time in Chapter 6 of his book besides getting back into doing the exercises he thoroughly details in his book. He also recommended an assortment of books to purchase. The books I ended up purchasing included: * Healing Back Pain, The Mind-Body Connection (without drugs, without surgery, without exercise: back pain can be stopped forever), John E. Sarno, MD * The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders, John E. Sarno, MD * Somatics: Reawakening the Mind's Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health, Thomas Hanna * Train Your Mind Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Sharon Begley (Foreword by the Dalai Lama) * Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness, Daniel G. Amen, MD * Don't Shoot Yourself in the Foot: A Program to end Self-Defeating Behavior Forever (Why You May Be Getting in the Way of Your Own Success), Daniel G. Amen, MD *Magnificent Mind at Any Age: Treat Anxiety, Depression, Memory Problems, ADD and Insomnia, Daniel G. Amen, MD *Making a Good Brain Great, Daniel G. Amen, MD Craig Williamson's advice to reread Chapter 6 - the last chapter of his book before the therapy exercises are demonstrated, changed me and my life completely! As soon as I commenced rereading Chapter 6, my eyes zeroed in on his comments on emotions. This time, being completely set free of any pain, even though I still couldn't tell an apricot by its right name, and always calling it something green which I knew was incorrect, I could actually understand the printed word! On Page 108, Craig had written, "When you become insensitive to your emotions, you miss basic information that you need to make good decisions, and you narrow the range of your personal experiences." For my entire life from before the age of 2, I'd worn a Mask of Happiness to protect me from living a life of absolute hell. My childhood and teen years were spent without any love from anyone and I was most abused by all adults in my life. So, to protect myself from heinous abuse, I learned as I said, before the age of 2, to always wear a "Mask of Happiness" so that no one would know how afraid I was of being further harmed. By the time I married the "Husband from Hell," I was emotionally a most fragile person, and this "Husband from Hell" added physical and mental abuse: all the subjects discussed in the above mentioned books, plus some others. He took great joy in his continual abuse of me and because I wore this "Mask of Happiness" just as Craig Williamson so clearly wrote on Page 108 of Chapter 6, I really narrowed the range of my personal experiences to absolute zero! I thought the sun, the moon and the stars shown on him, and everything that was wrong, was my fault! What absolute bunk! I remained with him for 25 miserable years before I finally had the courage to leave him. During the 1970s, I did benefit from 5 years of psychoanalysis, seeing a very excellent psychiatrist who helped me separate fiction from fact. I used to say, "I say I love so and so, but if I love so and so, why do I hurt so terribly within my chest?" I was finally set free, had my eyes opened to clearly see reality, and commenced building for myself a brand new and most exciting life. Except my "Mask of Happiness" remained in place until 4-10-2013! Now, I experience this Supernatural Mark 5:34 healing, and not only was I instantly released from pain in all parts of my body, the Lord also ripped off this egregiously false "Mask of Happiness." He also had my body most rapidly lose 35 lbs.! I am now entirely off all medications except for my thyroid. It still needs some help. I NEVER use any OTC drugs. I don't need them. I now consider myself a very Healthy and Happy Senior at almost 78, and am in the Prime of my Life! I am no longer in the Decline of my Life. I look forward to continued great and marvelous discoveries over the balance of my life, which could be in excess of 40 more years! Genesis 6:3 says our Lord decreed our life span to be 120 years. Yet, with stupid and thoughtless things on our behalf, including a poor mindset, crippling emotions, eating the wrong foods which contaminate and destroy our inner health, wrongful ways of exercising pushing our bodies with no regard to the health of our body treating it with the love and respect it should have, being negative and angry at everything, etc., severely shortens our lifespans. Craig's book is deceptively simplistic and genuine. It is a gold-mine of knowledge and useful methods of enabling all of us to train our muscles for pain-free living! During my lifetime, I had been hospitalized more than 23 times, with major surgeries for more than 11 of those times, not expecting to live through any of the surgeries, and a multiplicity of doctors for this and that and the other thing, besides major allergies to ... everything, etc. Now? My health is absolutely excellent! Little children learn how to handle their emotions, but when a person (me) is definitely a senior citizen, it is just plain hard to learn what defines a particular emotion, then, to precisely name it, then, to learn how to respond to "x" emotion, and finally, (since most of the emotions I've learned to comprehend and understand are negative), how to forgive the person who did this or that. Because I benefited from 5 years in the 1970s of seeing a great psychiatrist whenever my husband's abuse of me would have me in another basket of tears, and ultimately he declared I was healed and could get about my life, I did not feel it was relevant to me (nor did I have any money to do it anyway) to again engage any psychiatrist to help me figure out my emotions. In the past almost 2 years since my Supernatural Healing commenced, I've learned to comprehend, and define 49 specific emotions ranging from betrayal, rage, anger, disappointment, bigotry, discrimination, disgust, derision, suspicion, and then turning to positive ones such as tears of joy, calming presence of God, devotion, fervency, righteous anger, empathy, compassion, boundaries, and concern. So, before any of you who want to zero in on doing the exercises recommended by Craig Williamson to get rid of pain, and don't have a good handle on your mind, brain, or even your subconscious, or your own body, read these other books for understanding and apply the concepts, besides the pearls of wisdom from Craig Williamson, and also hie yourself to a psychiatrist to help you come to terms with your own emotions besides doing his gentle and effective way of calming down your muscles allowing oxygen to freely flow throughout your own body. When you actually do feel the oxygen flowing throughout your body, and you will, when you do these exercises correctly, then, you will be doing them correctly. And, if any of you think you have pain because you inherited this defect from your ancestry, and are guaranteed to live a life of suffering, think again. The new science of Epigenetics, which literally means "control above your genes", has completely changed our understanding of genetic control. Epigenetics is the science on how environmental signals -- i.e., what you eat, drink, breathe, touch, feel, do, believe; how you live; what you perceive, select, modify, and regulate your gene activity. The activity of your genes is constantly being changed in response to your unique environment and food choices. These shape your biology. Science has conclusively determined that our ancestry can only be blamed 2% to 5% of the time. That means, we have within our control 95% of all diseases, confusions and torments which plague us and significantly shorten lives. Craig's book is a foundation book of incredible wisdom for pain-free living. Pain does not exist in our bodies absent of triggering events or even the foods we eat. All parts of our bodies, including our dynamic brain, our emotions, our subconscious, etc. work together. These resources listed here, will greatly help you eliminate pain from your life. I have utilized many more resources, but these are a good starting point. Now, I'm concentrating on learning about Epigenetics, and taking a course in Nutritional Therapy to better understand the relationship between the food I eat or don't eat. Yes, ask our Lord for a Mark 5:34 supernatural healing, but take charge and engage your own mind, brain, body, etc. in ensuring you are pain free. These resources listed here are a good start to your success. Initially with the commencement of my Mark 5:34 supernatural healing, I failed to understand why my healing should be so gradual. I figured our Lord would simply snap His Fingers and I'd be completely restored and made new. I'm so glad that did not happen. Why? I am so thoroughly enjoying learning to engage all parts of me in ensuring I am doing the right things and eating the right foods to live the life of fullness our Lord designed not only for me but for each one of us. If my healing had been total and all at once, I doubt I would have learned how to engage all parts of me to embrace my total healing. UPDATE 9-24-2015 Where am I now? I am totally free of any pain, and yes, even my thyroid is now completely healed! One additional thing I’ve learned in this exciting process is the absolute need to follow what the Lord tells me. I’d written in my contemporaneously maintained journal with God back in 2010 that I really believe (Mark 9:23-24). Lord, help me with my unbelief! Well, I FORGOT that I had said that. So, for the past 2+ years my thyroid went into a spiraling decline, and I absolutely was the worst for wear. Finally, my doctor threw up his hands, said I needed professional this and that. I came home much confused, so I asked our Lord in my Journal, “What is going on.” Our Lord reminded me He told me in the spirit of my mind that back in 2010 my thyroid was healed according to Mark 9:23-24. He reminded me of this scripture verse. Since 4-10-2013 I have been relying solely on Mark 5:34-41 ignoring Mark 9:23 and our Lord really didn't like the insult to Him! I immediately made the correction in my prayers, and now? I truly am healed, including my thyroid and completely off all thyroid medication. I don’t need it anymore. I just simply feel fabulous! I’m also excited to get back into doing Craig’s fabulous exercises. One thing I’ve also realized is that you don’t need to spend years and years doing his therapeutic exercises. It may only take 1 or 2 or 3 times of methodically performing each move; but, your reward will be immediate and oxygen will no long be constricted by rigid frozen muscles, but will freely flow throughout your body.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has muscular pain issues. As someone who has suffered from neck, shoulder and hip stiffness and pain for years I can tell you that this book - both the narrative as well as the exercises - have helped me tremendously! In the narrative, Craig Williamson not only provides the muscular/spinal theory behind why we have pain and how it can be alleviated, but provides numerous examples from his occupational therapy practice demonstrating problems and how they were corrected. The exercises in the latter half of the book really do work. As part of the exercise description, the author adds the points "Sensing" and "Imaging" after the instruction on how to perform the exercise. Both those points are as important to the success of the exercise as the instruction. It really helps in the success of the exercise to follow and think about what you're feeling in your body as you perform the exercise, since one of the main points of the book is to become more aware of what your body and muscles doing. As a result of the narrative and exercises in the book, I am standing taller and straighter, my muscles are more relaxed, and I am far more aware of how I hold myself (and how to re-correct my alignment and posture when I fall back into my former habits).

Very easy to read and understand for anyone with a background in physiology, body/mind work, or any physical art, be it yoga, dance, or physical therapy. Some of the principles discussed are often forgotten, such as the effect of emotions, trauma, habituations, etc. on the body, and individuals who seek relief from pain are rarely given an opportunity to explore its origins. I only gave 4 stars as I think the exercises presented are scarce, and more could have been provided.

As a massage therapist, I found Craig Williamson's book to be both absorbing and enlightening. Williamson's book reads like a novel but explains clearly how chronic pain frequently has a neuromuscular rather than a mechanical root cause. He explains that muscle tone is influenced by the nervous system, coining the term "kinesthetic dysfunction" to describe people who are unable to tell whether or not their muscles are tense or relaxed. Williamson says that the neuromuscular system may maintain the cycle of pain long after an injury should have healed. He states, "If you think of a muscle as something that is being tightened, the implication is that someone is tightening it. That someone is you, even if you are not aware of it and do not wish to do so" (p. 62). He suggests that the reasons for musculoskeletal pain--other than structural damage--include reflexive muscular reaction from an injury, dysfunctional movement patterns, poor alignment and body use, kinesthetic dysfunction, and emotions. Although most of us who provide massage therapy do not work with clients dressed and walking about the room, as Williamson does, we can derive insights from his book to aid our understanding and treatment of chronic pain. Specifically, his book reinforces us to think of ways to help our clients become more aware - kinesthetically - of their bodies and habitual movement patterns. I highly recommend this book to LMTs and others who work with people who are in pain.

This author is very experienced in body work and has dabbled in many forms of bodywork. Many of what this book says was not new to me because I have read and tried so many forms of bodywork/movement, but I still enjoyed his perspective. I bought this book hoping it had something new to teach me about my psoas muscle which is stuck in contraction. I felt the movements in the book aggravated it more. Perhaps a happy healthy psoas would respond better to the movements. I think you just can not strengthen a psoas while it is stuck in contraction.

Craig Williamson has written a thorough, scholarly, and yet user-friendly book about the management and relief of muscular and neuromuscular pain. He gives us complete exercises that make sense and are easy to follow. For those of us baby-boomers who have exercised for too many years without the proper form and relaxation techniques, I highly recommend this book to help you stay healthy so you can exercise for years to come. I have given this book to at least five friends who suffer all different kinds of back, shoulder, and neck pain, and they have all found great help from Williamson's extensive knowledge. Everyone in my family has read it and tries to bring these exercises and techniques into our daily lives. Every reader will benefit from Williamson's wisdom.

This wasn't my cup of tea, so I gave it to a friend who loves to read and now she doesn't talk to me any more.

There are three things I really appreciate about this book: 1) The explanation of how being focused on the goal of movement, such as running 5K or lifting a certain weight, creates a lot of injury. The author shows how process-focused movement will prevent injury, increase awareness and add enjoyment to your life. 2) Anatomy and movement terminology is understandable for the average person. This book is very readable and covers sources of pain from tension, to poor posture, to emotional holding. 3) There are two types of exercises in this book. The movement explorations given at the end of each chapter can fundamentally change how you use your body. The exercises at the back of the book give you the opportunity to put the earlier explorations into practice. I recommend this book to my clients who have recurring pain and are willing to take a bit of time try something else new and easy. Anita Boser, LMP, CHP, author of Relieve Stiffness and Feel Young Again with Undulation

This is a great practical book - but do not fall into temptation not to read the theory first. It makes the exercises clear and using only the principles in the theory (not yet the exercises), I devised my own movements that unblocked a very bad (and muscular in origin) sciatic pain in my lower back. In fact it was so bad I could not feel certain parts of my lower back or move muscles at will...but after understanding the theory and a few hours of trying to de-numb my unfeeling areas by concentrated attempts for a conscious movement there, I started to improve. Equally my posture has improved - just by being aware of the theoretical principles of this work. I'm looking forward to implementing the exercises soon!

I would be honest that I only had average hopes for this book, I don’t know is it because of the cover sheet or the title. Shockingly I think this book is one of the best books that I have. It is a true hidden gem that needs to be discovered. I was amazed about the level of awareness of the author and I really would want to meet him in person one day. The content about the body mechanism is priceless, I am living most of the things he is talking about but I stopped sharing these observations about myself and the body since people usually think you are a freak when you talk about the effects of relaxation and how you truly learn and enhance everything in your life by just relaxing. I learned this when I started to learn to play the Oud, I truly experienced the effects of this awareness and strangely not all music players share the same insights. I nearly cried when I read the part where he talks about the difference between awareness and focus. I really was shouting "yes" yes" because this is the first time I find someone who knows something about this gift that nobody seems to notice in their life. Krishnamurti was talking about the same thing but people are usually skeptical when you explain to them that focus is killing you and there is a better way through awareness which is more inclusive and has focus inside it. Truly thank you for writing this book, and I hope we would meet one day.

i am a personal trainer and deal with all kinds of pain and medical problems i come accross when training. this book has good guidence and ideas for people with pain management problems. just make sure if you decide to purchase the book that each person is treated individually because 2 people with a similar problem could react very different to the advice. excellent book, great service, reccommended seller.

its alrigth

If you are in pain, this book will change your life. Of course, you'll have to do the exercises, but they are neither difficult not strenuous.