Uprise: Back Pain Liberation, by Tuning Your Body Guitar

Wheeler, a physician specializing in sports medicine and pain management, brings readers what he describes as “a revolution” in back pain management in this informative and encouraging book. During Wheeler’s 20 years in practice, he has often seen patients with chronic back pain, something that, “quite literally, ruins lives.” He has also observed a lack of progress in developing effective treatment, for which he identifies three underlying causes: slowness in treating back pain when it first develops; failure to treat it as a systemic problem; and inattention to the issue of bracing muscle weakness, which develops over time. To treat these issues, he’s created the Tune Me Method, which he presents as a “paradigm shift.” Stressing the importance of a “good medical team” and of early pain management, Wheeler lays out a step-by-step program, telling readers to “be [your] own advocates” when talking to doctors. He is frank, however, that success will demand both patience and discipline. Wheeler’s avuncular method of doling out information a bit at a time may remind readers of their own physician relaying new—and not always welcome–information. His zealous conclusion, in which he encourages readers to speak out to other patients, doctors, and even the insurance industry, should strike an inspiring chord for back pain sufferers. [em](BookLife) [/em]