Treat Your Own Neck 5th Ed Paperback – January 10, 2011

I rarely write reviews. I should, just don't have/make the time. But this book changed my life after nothing else worked and I was literally minutes from surgery. I had injured my C7-T1 disk such that it was significantly herniated and pressing on the C8 nerve root. For 3 months, I went to physical therapy, slept in a chair every night in a weird position that provided some relief, and saw various pain specialists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, and orthopedic surgeons. When nothing helped I scheduled a keyhole laminectomy with a world-renowned neurosurgeon. At the same time, a family member who had neck issues (he is also a radiologist) urged me to try this book before getting surgery. Having had 2 lower back surgeries in the past, I was familiar with the greatly unpleasant process of recovering from spinal surgery and was willing to anything to avoid it. But I was risking permanent nerve damage by delaying much further. So I kept my surgery date and started the McKenzie Method immediately and with all my vigor as soon as the book arrived. To me, this book was worth, literally, at least 1,000 times its price (considering just the costs of surgery and physical therapy, and not including all the pain and suffering it saved me). It explains in the perfect amount of detail exactly what is happening and why, allowing the reader to understand the problem and how the exercises work to treat the problem, helping the reader visualize the cure while doing the exercises. After 2 weeks of doing the exercises, my pain had subsided considerably, but I still showed up for surgery because it was not entirely gone, and I felt that the dexterity and strength I lost in my left hand due to the nerve compression had not returned. I was in the pre-op room at the hospital, in my gown, nurses and anesthesiologist coming in and prepping. Then my surgeon walks in with a team of med students behind him, eager to observe the procedure. He runs through the series of simple tests we had done during office visits (squeeze his fingers to test strength, etc.), and then he tells me that the surgery is off. He said I had shown such great improvement in such a short amount of time that it is clearly evidence of recovery that he expected to continue without risking further nerve damage. I refer to it as the best surgery I never had, and I truly believe that I owe it to the McKenzie Method. Thank you, thank you, thank you Robin McKenzie. This was over 3 years ago. Although I made a full recovery without surgery, I have had occasional (maybe once every 6 months) minor relapses (pain in the neck and shoulder blade, sometimes a little numbness in the pinkie). Immediately upon onset of the pain, I use the exercises in the book and the pain goes away (usually within the day, but sometimes a couple of days). I have also purchased McKenzie's book for the lower back and try to follow its wisdom regularly. It, too, is very well written. I tend to be one of those readers who wants to flip to the exercises, which are in the middle-back of both books. But after reading both books multiple times, I can verify that there is great benefit to starting on page 1 and reading through. At least in my case, the explanation of the anatomy, movement, and problems was spot on, and therefore provided a calming effect. The explanation of the movement of pain during recovery while doing the exercises was equally spot on, and greatly encouraging.

About 15 years ago I starting having problems with my back. I found out later I have a ".. herniated, stenotic, L5..". I was off work a month, used moist heat, got a little PT, and finally a Cortisone shot. It's a long story, but by the time my insurance would pay for the shot I was feeling much better. I went ahead and had the shot as sort of a prophylactic measure. Anyway, when I got back to work (I was doing work in a few LTAC places) one of the PT guys there told me to "...forget anything they told you and do what I tell you!" Turns out he was trained in the 'McKenzie Method'. He gave me a few exercises to do, and a little information about why it works. Vola! It helped, maybe more than all the other things put together. Since then I have never really had any trouble with my back. It's still there of course, but I baby it, and try not to do anything to aggravate it. If it starts to hurt I do a few simple exercises, and it gets better. So far so good....You may ask...what does this have to do with treating your NECK? Ok....about a couple months or so ago, I woke up with some really bad pain in my neck, shoulder area. At first I thought I had just strained it or something, but it wouldn't go away, and was really bothering me quite a bit. I gradually begin to realise that this wasn't just a strain, but was probably something to do with the disk in my neck. Sure enough it was confirmed via a MRI that I have ".. degenerative disk disease..", with a herniated, C4-5, and narrowing between the C6-7. It sucks being 58 years old ya know...!Who knows when it started. It could have been all the physical labor I used to do for a living. It could've been when I played football...couldn't been a couple of sucker punches I've had....not to mention the few times I have 'BUMPED' my head on something( I walked right into the chute of a Concrete truck once. Knocked me out to for a second. I went right back to work. Ah youth..it's wasted on youth!)...who knows? It is just catching up with me...Anyway, when this neck trouble started I got busy trying to see what I could about McKenzie treatments for the Neck. I found this book, bought it, and it works! I think between this, and the McKenzie Neck Roll, my neck feels much better today...thank you. Honestly...I didn't even follow it line for line. I took a couple of the exercises, and started doing them. It didn't take long, but soon my neck was feeling good enough I told my Doc to hold off on the Cortisone shot for now. It didn't make the hernia go away, but it sure made the pain go away. Like my Back I intend to baby my neck until that doesn't work anymore...then go from there.I am here to tell you the McKenzie Method works..at least it did for me, and I hope it works for you. Get the book and try it!Good luck!

Written for the layman in understandable terms. Explained the root causes of most neck pain and how to take charge of your own pain management as opposed to just having symptoms treated. Once I understood why I have pain and made a few changes in my posture and the simple exercises, I am able to go about my day without pain meds and the range of motion is almost back to normal. I like his philosophy that each individual is responsible for the consequences of poor posture and lifestyle sedentary lifestyle. Even those with jobs that require stress on cervical spine can benefit from reading this book. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is I wish he had provided a chart with the exercises. As written, I had to make my own chart to follow as it is now practical to thumb through the pages to find the proper exercises in the correct order. Otherwise I love the book and even ordered his other books about back pain as well as how to live pain free.

My book was delivered right on time and the book was in perfect condition. I could not be happier!