From a noted pioneer in sports medicine comes a breakthrough regimen for stopping back pain once and for allwithout surgery.

Eighty-percent of Americans suffer some form of low-back painusually due to a herniated diskbut long-term relief is rarely achieved.

As a physician specializing in treating athletes, Dr. Vijay Vad has spent years researching how to cure back pain using medical yoga and Pilates. Profiled in The Wall Street Journal, his program requires just fifteen minutes a day for eight weeks to restore flexibility and prevent future injuries.

Offering a proven alternative to invasive surgery, Dr. Vad's Back Rx provides the best of mind/body medicine by giving readers three step-by-step exercise series, demonstrated in 130 precise photographs, for implementing his popular program at home. Even readers with severely limited mobility will rejoice in Dr. Vad's gentle introductory workout. Progressing through his self-paced program, they will discover a new range of exercises, breathing techniques, and tips for self-massage. For those who want to go even further and use this program for more than the treatment of a single injury, an advanced workout is included that puts readers on the road to peak performance.

The perfect combination of modern medicine, Pilates innovations, and ancient yoga postures, Back Rx builds important new fundamentals for lifelong freedom from pain.

Eighty-percent of Americans suffer some form of low-back pain, but long-term relief is rarely achieved. As a physician specializing in treating athletes, Dr. Vad has spent years researching how to cure back pain using medical yoga and Pilates. His program requires just 15 minutes a day for eight weeks to restore flexibility and prevent future injuries.

In "Back Builders, Dr. Vijay Vad, a noted sports medicine specialist at the prestigious Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and the official back care advisor to professional sports associations such as the PGA golf tour, explains that nearly all low back injuries can be healed, and future injuries prevented or minimized, without surgery and without staggering in pain from one caregiver to another. In just 15 minutes a day for eight weeks, Dr. Vad's easy to follow program will put just about anyone with an aching disk on the road to a strong back and lifelong freedom and joy of movement. With over 100 photos to illustrate the yoga and Pilates-based exercises in the series Dr. Vad presents, the reader can easily and safely follow Dr. Vad's program at home to achieve freedom from low back pain a lifetime of case of movement.

A lifelong yoga practitioner, Vijay Vad, M.D., is a sports medicine specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. He also serves as the official back-care advisor for the Professional Golfers Association tour and two major tennis tours.

Hilary Hinzmann is a freelance editor whose projects include Use What You've Got by high-profile New York City realtor Barbara Corcoran.

Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: The Back Rx Way to a Healthy, Pain-Free Back xi

What to Do If You're in Pain Right Now xvii

Part one

chapter one: How Your Back Works 3

chapter two: Why Your Back Hurts 9

chapter three: The Four Stages of Low Back Pain Care and Recovery 15

chapter four: Flexibility, Strength, and Endurance: the Three Keys to Good Balance and Posture 25

chapter five: Power Tips for Healthy Backs 35

chapter six: Resuming Activity after a Low Back Injury 51

Part two: Back Rx Series A, B, and C

chapter seven: Introduction: Doing the Back Rx Exercises 57

chapter eight: Return to Movement: Back Rx Series A 63

chapter nine: Resuming Full Activity: Back Rx Series B 95

chapter ten: Into the Fast Lane: Back Rx Series C 119

Part three

chapter eleven: Other Caregivers 143

chapter twelve: State-of-the-Art Treatments and the Future of Low Back Care 149

Appendix: Resources on the Web 156