I thought that I would start a discussion about Dr. John Sarno. He is a reknowned back doctor who teaches at New Yprk University School Of Medicine. He has a philosophy very much like Dr. Bates except with his focus being on the back as opposed to the eyes.
He has written four books on the subject of what he terms Tension Myosotis Syndrome (TMS). The most recent goes into the most detailed about the connection between the mind and the body.
As a student of Sarno. I stumbled accross this natural vision improvement. Here on this site I am currently working on trying to improve my vision as well as continuing to follow the mind body connection that Sarno teaches.
Hi Rocky!
While i must admit i've not heard of Dr. Sarno, it is refreshing to see more and more medical profession practitioners stepping away from a "treat the symptom, not the cause" mind set and toward a more natural and holistic approach....
Perhaps, those of us in industrialized societies are beginning to learn that technology and modern "science" is not all it is cracked up to be. Then again, perhaps we are not... who can say?
can you tell us more about Dr. Sarno?
if you find the mind-body relationship intriguing.... take a look at taoist philosophy.... fascinating.
Sorry it took so long to reply, but I will tell you what I know about John Sarno. He is a Rehabilation Specialist from New York University. He started in his medical career in the 1950's. After a few years of unsatisfactory treatment of back pain. He devolped a new theory for the treatment of back pain called TMS. TMS he thought was primarily a muscluar disease, but now he feels that TMS is more commonly affects the nervous system.
He main belief is that the mind and body are linked and should be treated as one whole system. As opposed to the main treatment of just back pain resulting from hernia, buldging disks, curvature of the spine etc. He believes that while these structural abnormalities do exist, they are not the cause of the pain. The pain stems from the stress and unconcious rage that accumulates over the life time of a individual. The sources of the rage and stress are an accumulation of many different factors including childhood anger, pressures of everyday life and unrealistic expectations that we put upon ourselves.
What he has theorized is that the brain causes a mild oxygen deprivation to occur in a spot in the body and while this can be excruiatingly painful it is a benign condition that can be completely healed. The brain causes the pain because it feels that the pain is easier to deal with then the unconcious rage that is oresent. But once the issue has been acknowlegded the pain will disipate because the need for the pain no longer exists.
The pain can exist pretty much anywhere in the body. This is the complete list of ways in which TMS can appear (Sarno, John E. The Mindbody Prescription. New York: Warner Books, 1998.):
Forms of TMS
- Most low back and leg pain
- Most neck, shoulder and arm pain
- Possible cranial nerve pain or weakness (fifth and seventh cranial nerves)
- Fibromyalgia
- Tension myalgia
- Myofascial pain syndrome
- Temporomandibular joint syndrome
- Most tendonitis syndromes
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- RSI
- Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
- Post-polio syndrome
- Most chronic pain
- Most of those with so-called chronic fatigue syndrome
- Most of those with the Epstein-Barr syndrome
This is a list of equivalent disorders that work in the same way as TMS (Sarno 44):
Equivalents of TMS
- Gastrointestinal disorders (heartburn, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome)
- Disorders of the circulatory system (tension headache, migraine headache, Reynaudâââ‰â¢s phenomenon)
- Skin disorders (acne, eczema, hives, psoriasis)
- Disorders of the immune system (allergies, frequent colds, urinary tract infections, recurrent herpes, yeast infections, prostatitis)
- Genitourinary disorders (frequent urination)
- Benign disorder of the cardiac mechanism (aberrations in heart rate and rhythm)
- Miscellaneous disorders (hypoglycemia, dizziness, tinnitus, spasmodic dysphonia)
Now this is a very brief overview and if your are interested in finding out more I would suggest that you read one of his three most recent boooks. He has authored four books on the subject but since the first one he has changed many of his beliefs about this condition.
The four books are:
1. Mind Over Back Pain 1984
2. Healing Back Pain - 1991
3. The Mindbody Presciption - 1998
4. The Divided Mind - The Epidimic of Mindbody Disorders - 2006.
All can be purchased from Amazon and they have plenty of satisfied customer reviews.
And if you want further information on the web.
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And of course if you have any other questions please feel free to ask and I will attempt to answer.
I just saw this post. Dr Sarno saved my life several years ago from unidentifiable pelvic pain, multiple chemical sensitivities and other pain (back, head, etc). I am working to improve my vision and would love to hear any one's comments on Sarno's work, especially as it pertains to eyesight. Thanks!
Thanks -- just ordered his Divided Mind. It ties into some other work I just started doing to send oxygen to my eyes. I'll post more as I learn more from the book, especially if it helps me directly.
My Natural Vision Improvment teacher Greg Marsh http://visionimprovementcenter.com/about.htm recently sent me information on Dr. Sardo's methods. He used Dr. Sardo's method to correct back pain from hauling something heavy.
I been using it to help get rid of a stiff neck and ear ringing along with new chiropractor.
Its working. I am relaxing, moving through the pain, not bracing my body against it.
I'm about halfway through reading The Divided Mind, his latest book, & it makes a lot of sense. I just wrote a related post on my blog if you want to go check it out.
Nancy
I spelt Dr. Sarno's name wrong. I got some benefit from his book, just reading it in library. Then got injured by a chiropractor and spent months getting re-aligned after searching for a honest one. They still could not completely fix the injury the first one caused. Now staying away from chiros. and trying to completely heal on my own. Just bought Sarno's book and waiting for it to arrive. A student helped me get re-interested in Dr. Sarno's method.
My eyesight is ok now due to Bates method, physical therapy on neck, back muscles, posture.
