Treat Your Own Neck

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.

Excellent advice for those suffering from neck pain or strain. Exercises are simple and require no special equipment. I also bought Treat Your Own Shoulder for my wife after her rotator cuff surgery and, for me, Treat Your Own Back.

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.

This is absolutely the best $10 I have ever spent. One night I woke up with a severe pain in my shoulder and arm. It was getting progressively worse over the next few days. My family doctor prescribed physical therapy. It helped. Six months later, the pain returned--even worse, and I lost sensation in my right thumb. Physical therapy helped, but not as much as before, and despite following the exercise regime they prescribed, the numbness in the thumb did not go away--it lasted for several weeks, the therapist said there is nothing else they can do, and I thought that I already lost it for life. Then I came across this book. I read some reviews and decided to give it a try. I followed the exercise regime diligently. The first two exercises already produced improvements over the physical therapy results within a week. However, my thumb was still numb. When I started the third exercise, I noticed my condition improving every day--the sensation to my thumb was gradually coming back, and within a week it was almost normal. I have been without pain in my shoulder, and with full use of my thumb, for nearly two years now. Every now and then, when I feel that something may be starting again, I do the exercises from the book a couple of times, watch my posture, and it goes away. I spent hundreds of dollars on physical therapy and various devices to help me with the pain. Yet this little book proved to be most useful by far. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Just be sure to follow the directions and the exercise regime diligently.

Autant l'ouvrage du dos et rachis lombaire est intéressant et complet, autant celui du cou est minimaliste. Un livre pour vous expliquer que pour protéger vos disques au niveau des cervicales, cela se limite à 1 exercice. On recule le cou et basculement vers l'arrière... 1 h chez votre kiné et vous maîtriserez l'exercice sans lire l'ouvrage. 2 étoiles tout de même car l'exercice fonctionne ... Mais une explication sur feuille A4 aurait suffit.

I bought this book because my physhiotherapist lent me hers to read it. I have to admit that after 6 months of pain in my neck because of a diagnosed "slipped disc", bulged disc or Bandscheibenvorfall (in German) it managed to recover my neck completely. I don't feel any pain anymore after 3 weeks of exercises and the sessions with the therapist to control me. Because of it, I have changed the way I sleep and the way I sit. I have started again with fitness and I feel very good. The exercises can be performed by yourself everywhere you are, whenever you feel a little bit of pain. No need for an additional appointment to relieve the pain.

I read the reviews of this book and thought "how can it be this good"? But it is! Surprisingly there are not a lot of exercises in the book, and much of the first 2 thirds is information on the neck and spine, how posture causes pain, and so on. I had read much of this info before, and am very familiar with it anyway as a massage therapist, so was initially disappointed. But where this book stands out is in the knowledge which is then applied but the author. The exercises he gives are so good that they started to relieve my symptoms within a day. And these are symptoms I've had for years, and seen Osteopaths and Chiropractors etc. many, many times. I always believe in taking care of your self as the best and most effective long term treatment for any condition, and part of my treatment plan with clients is to recommend stretches and exercise for them so that they can maintain progress and keep themselves fit and mobile. And that is where this book fills in so many missing bits in my experience. So I will be using it and the exercises to not only improve my own posture and tension, but to pass on that experience to my clients. Great book, use it and you won't be disappointed : )

マッケンジー体操、腰の方で最近ちょっと有名ですが、私は「首」にも興味がありました。 ところが、「自分で治すマッケンジーエクササイズ (首の痛み編)」は品切れです。 そこで、原書で読むことにして、買ってみました。 (1) 最新版であった。（第4版） (2) 安い！ (3) 英語は難しくないし、分量も少ない。（姿勢の話とかは飛ばして、本題の体操のところ（＝4章、5章）だけ見れば、英語は難しくありません。また、体操の説明そのもの（5章）は10頁しかありません。） (4) シンプルな体操が7種類あるだけ。 ということで、買って本当に良かった。 とりあえず、上手に体操できた感じです。 体操の効果の有無は継続してみないと分かりませんが、「体操がうまくいっている目安」として4章に記載されている、痛み（コリ）が中心に集まる、感じがクリアに出ているので問題なさそうです。

Has helped me alot with my neck