8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back by Esther Gokhale – book review

Are you one of the 31 million Americans who suffers from back pain everyday? Acupuncturist, author and pain-free living expert, Esther Gokhale, may be able to help you with her new book 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back.

In the 240 page book Gokhale uses over 1100 images and illustrations, along with historical and scientific facts, to show that most of what our culture has taught us about posture is misguided and possibly damaging to our bodies. Esther Gokhale also offers Gokhale Method classes that teach the material outlined in the book.

• Learn how to keep the back pain-free without time consuming exercises, changes in working styles and daily routine, equipment, medication or surgery.

• Transform everyday activities, such as sitting, standing, walking and bending into comfortable movements that can also protect bones and joints, and maximize the ability of muscles, arteries, veins and nerves to keep the body healthy and pain-free.

• Discover the power of stretchsitting and stretchlying, two revolutionary techniques that will decompress the spine, improve circulation and breathing, relax muscles and reduce stress while working at the computer, watching TV and sleeping through the night.

• Forget what you thought you knew about good posture. Never tense your muscles to “sit up straight” again. Return to the natural, healthy posture used by athletes and shared by children and people from traditional societies all over the world.

My View: I think that the book would be useful to so many people who struggle with back pain everyday! It would make a nice gift for loved ones or  just for yourself. Each of the 8 Lessons included in the book are filled with step-by-step images, instructions, troubleshooting guides, indications of improvement and more. Whether you learn by seeing or doing you will have no problem using this book as each and every step is outlined in detail using several images and/or illustrations of dos and don’ts. At the end of each Lesson there is a full page dedicated to a recap of the steps covered for a quick at-a-glance reminder of what you’ve just learned.

I love the book binding that allows the pages to lay flat and stay open! It makes it so much easier to do the exercises when you’re not fighting with the book! I found the book to be visually stimulating with clear and easily understood directions. The thoughts and information that are covered really do make sense and I am excited about my husband and I  mastering the techniques so we can have a pain-free back!

Buy It: 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back retails for $24.95. If you would like to check the book out first, you can claim Chapter 5 for free by signing up to receive the “Positive Stance” monthly newsletter. “Using Your Inner Corset” is the single most important abdominal exercise you can do to obtain a pain-free back! You can also take a look inside the book for other examples.