Heal Pelvic Pain: The Proven Stretching, Strengthening, and Nutrition Program for Relieving Pain, Incontinence,& I.B.S, and Other Symptoms Without Surgery,   ISBN:9780071546560

Customer Rating: 

I have been dealing with pelvic pain and interstitial cystitis for several years now and this book was a God send. It has helped immensely as I was really scared about what was going on. Not a big book that takes a long time to read; I can't handle that. The author, Amy Stein, writes short and to the point yet covers a lot of ground so you'll learn what you need to know and why it's important to keep up with the exercises. I had never heard of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction until I went to an orthopedic doctor, who was going to refer me to a physical therapist to deal with it but now I'm doing it on my own. I know I've felt better since I've been doing the stretches and I look forward to doing my sessions as they are so relaxing. HIGHLY recommended.

Customer Rating: 

The book came in the promised condition, but the shipping was unclear. I got the first shipping notification within a week of purchasing the book. About a week after the book was supposed to arrive I got another email stating a new arrival date a couple weeks later than the original date. It was slightly annoying, but I did receive the book and there are no other complaints.

Customer Rating: 

It took about a month to show up, I thought they had lost it. I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but seems really good.

Customer Rating: 

This book came to me via a recommendation from my urologist and physical therapist, neither of who have actually read it. I've been dealing with chronic pain for about 20 years, and in that time, I've done a lot to educate myself. As a result, I already knew much of what I found in the book. If the reader has recently been diagnosed and knows little or nothing about pelvic pain, the book could prove to be insightful.

The first couple of chapters are excellent. Amy Stein does a good job of explaining what pelvic pain is, which conditions make up pelvic pain syndromes, and how the conditions feed off of each other to create even more problems such as shortened muscle structures, spasms, and pain. It all makes sense, and I've never found such a concise yet comprehensive explanation of this type of pain.

I think it's ambitious, though, to say that following the plan in the book will heal pelvic pain. It might diminish the pain and bring some relief, but healing is something else all together. The exercise plan is made up of exercises I have done for many years, and yet, my pain has never improved. The book claims to include nutritional advice, but it is scant information, at best.

Stein's book relies heavily on exercise as the course to healing, but I know many people who have not found relief this way, myself among them. Reading further and doing some calculating, Stein's plan requires the patient to exercise at least 90 minutes a day in order to get in all of the stretching and strengthening exercises, plus an hour of cardio. Frankly, I don't believe that is realistic. Do people with normal lives really have 90 minutes or more for daily exercise, plus an additional 30 minutes or more for meditation? Don't they work or have families?

With the exception of the helpful information in the first two chapters, a lot of the non-exercise related information is very general and superficial in scope. As for the exercise chapters, you could benefit just as much from exercising with a yoga DVD of the gentle/restorative or pregnancy genre.

Customer Rating: 

Heal Pelvic Pain is an easy to read book with very helpful illustrations and photos. It takes a holistic approach to healing, with a chapter on nutrition, stress management and self-care, as well as stretching, self massages ("trigger point massages") and strengthening exercises for the back and pelvic region. I gave my doctor a copy so that he understood what I was experiencing, and he thanked me and said that he will recommend this to the patients suffering from these disorders.