Fixing You: Neck Pain & Headaches: Self-Treatment for healing Neck pain and headaches due to Bulging Disks, Degenerative Disks, and other diagnoses. (Volume 1)

I read half the book and even though Rick advises to read the whole thing before doing the exercises, well, I couldn't help myself...I jumped right in. I did most of the exercises for the first time yesterday. Today I looked at a few of his on-line videos and did all of the exercises in the book. I can't believe how good my neck feels! It hasn't felt this loose and pain-free in many, many years...as far back as I can remember, practically. The concept of my shoulders being responsible for neck pain simply never occurred to me and was never mentioned as a possibility when I tried to get help through chiropractors, massage therapists, orthobionomy practitioners and acupuncturists. I really like the idea of helping myself too...going to all these health care practitioners can get really expensive and very frustrating when they don't "fix" you. I'm not a couch potato and I do stretching every day when I get up, but what with a couple of minor car accidents long ago, and falling down on our rocky terrain while hiking more than a few times, plus some bad posture habits, my whole body has gradually gotten so out of whack I didn't know where to start. Lately I've been constantly gulping down ibuprofen due to almost constant headaches. My neck was at the very least chronically tense, but also usually quite stiff and sore. I'm looking forward to Rick's books that focus on hip problems and shoulder problems because I need both of those too! I've had an extremely painful shoulder for the past month or so due to too much time at the computer, I think. But the exercises in the Neck Pain book have helped this as well. This book is extremely easy to read and understand. You're given a batch of exercises as well as helpful tips to follow during your daily routine. The videos Rick presents on his website are very clear and well-executed. Do yourself a favor: get this book and do the exercises. You won't believe the difference it makes. I'm going to recommend it to everyone I know with any problems along this line. In fact, I've already recommended it to three people!

The author says that neck pain is generally caused by trouble with the shoulders. In other words, it radiates to another area. It's referred pain. It's similar to how a bad hip can hurt in the groin. So you won't find any neck exercises here. Not one. You'll find unique stretches and strengthening exercises for the shoulders. The good news is, your neck will stop hurting. At least mine is. No, it's not totally there yet. I've only used the book three days. But my horrible neck pain is almost gone by doing these exercises. The "neck" exercises in other books and on DVDs didn't work. You'll want to view the videos the author provides to buyers of the book. It helps to see them done and have him explain them before you do them. You want to do them correctly so you won't hurt yourself and so you'll get all the benefits from them. He also shows modifications. The author does a good job of describing the anatomy of the shoulder and neck. He also explains why it's the shoulder causing your problems and not your neck. This is really the only book you need to get rid of that awful neck pain. Highly recommended. -- Susanna K. Hutcheson

the instructions were easy to follow but being able to access the free videos really helped a lot. the exercises did help my pain and discomfort. Since I work at a computer 8hrs a day they are going to be an ongoing part of my life to keep pain at bay

I'm so impressed - this really works permanently! I was in a bad car accident that left me with a messed up back and neck. After the accident, traditional doctors wanted to surgically put a metal rod in my back to straighten everything out; but I wanted to try a non-invasive path due to how active I am (I couldn't live with the restrictiveness of a rod). I had gone to a Chiropractor for 2 years, and then a Physical Therapist for 2 years trying to get rid of the pain. Over the years, I've been able to get my hips & ribs back into place, but I continued to have horrible neck pain and bad migraines. Nothing I was doing could get rid of terrible muscle spasms that would start in my shoulders and go all the way through the top of my head, which would then pull my neck vertebrae and my Atlas out of place. I've had special work chairs ordered for my job, I've done dry needling, I've had massages, I've gotten my neck put into place 2-3 times a week, I've done neck strengthening exercises, I've had electricity therapy..... you name it, I've done it; but, nothing worked to relieve pain for more than a couple of days. I'm very happy to say though that this book has changed my life! I have relief and I'm feeling well consistently! No more migraines, neck spasms, and countless doctor appointments. I was skeptical at first because the book reviews sounded too good to be true, but I'm here to say that everyone needs to give this a try - I've never felt so good since the car accident! Thank you Rick Olderman for this amazing resource :)

I've suffered from migraines and tension headaches for about ten years now. I've been to several chiropractors and massage therapists over the past five or six years, but the problem never completely went away. Nobody ever mentioned that the root of the problem could be in my shoulders, but after reading the book it completely made sense. So, I finished reading the book and began practicing the exercises in it as well as really trying to monitor my bad slouching habit. My neck pain seems to have gone away already. Today was the first day in a while that I did not get some sort of headache. =) Not only do the exercises actually work, but I'm really impressed with the author. He seems to really care and wants everyone to be pain free. I sent him an email about some soreness that I started experiencing in my trapezius muscles and he responded the same day, giving me additional feedback and suggestions. I would highly recommend this book to anyone experiencing neck pain and headaches.

I bought the knee and neck book bec I have had chronic tension for many years. I like how the author treats the patient as an intelligent being and I appreciate that Olderman has the ability to put at times complex ideas in simple terms that anyone can understand. I used this book to understand what may be going on with my body and to be more informed when consulting a chiropractor or physical therapist rather than blindly following their reccommendations. Perhaps the best part of buying this book was the fact that when I emailed to ask the author about some exercises that I was having trouble completing, he responded right away! Considering his very busy schedule, I was extremely grateful. We emailed back and forth and he was amazingly kind to respond and reccommend some additional therapies such as somatics, which is also on his website. I think he is a truly kind person and a healer willing to go out of his way to help people and I have great respect for his knowledge! His books are clear and well written.

The book has some good information, however, the code to view the exercise videos is invalid. I sent an email requesting assistance on the author's website but never got a response. The book does not describe the positions in depth, so it's hard to ensure your are doing them correctly.

Very little useful information in this book. The author goes out of his way to explain that his approach is different, then proceeds to offer pretty much the exact same stuff you hear from any physical therapist except the author adds some stuff about believing in yourself. If you've been to a physical therapist and it didn't help, this book isn't likely to help either. If you've got a minor neck ache and haven't sought relief previously, this might be a useful starting point to deal with it.

I cannot recommend this book enough! If you suffer with a stiff neck/headaches/shoulder pain then get yourself this book. Following a 4 year ankle injury, meaning I spent most of my time looking down to watch for uneven ground, I started looking for a way to help with my constant neck and shoulder pain, as I was concerned with all the pain killers necessary to function. I always read the reviews of self help books, as there are quite a lot of poorly informed guides and was a but dubious about the fact that there were no UK reviews for this product. The reviews from Amazon.com were gushing and as it is quite reasonably priced I thought I'd risk it. THANK GOODNESS I DID!!! The advise in it is great; technical without being too scientific, plus easy to follow. Honestly, within 2 days of doing the exercises I could feel my whole neck amd shoulder loosening up. The anatomical information at the beginning of the book, gave me a clear image in my mind of what part of my body I should be focused on during each exercise. There is even a link to videos of Rick showing you each exercise to help you to really make sure you're on the right track. It's a very comprehensive book. The re-training of my muscles did cause some soreness at first, but I would encourage you to persevere through this as 2 weeks after doing the programme each evening, I only need to adjust my posture and stretch my scapula a little when I feel the old pain creep in during the day and it's gone! Give this book a go and you won't be disappointed:)

good book

I came across this book by accident whilst searching for something else and after reading other reviews thought I'd give it a go. I've never written a product review before but this is the most useful book I've ever bought! I've had severe neck pain and headaches for over 20 years, been through all the usual treatments - physio, chiropractor, osteopath etc. plus various medications and nothing has worked. As I read through the early chapters learning more about how the neck and shoulders work and feeling where various muscles where, I could already feel a difference in how my neck felt, how changing my posture released some of the pressure on my neck. When sitting down to read the book I had the usual pounding headache that starts after a few hours at work, but an hour after finishing the early chapters the pain was easing - without the aid of painkillers!! I've made huge efforts to follow the first couple of exercises in the book and change my usual posture and have now gone a week without a headache and with minimal discomfort in my neck - I am completely sold on the book and will now be working towards some of the other exercises in the hope that eventually I will cure my neck pain.

Why am I almost giving this book 5 stars when it failed to fix my problem? Well, I've suffered from neck pain and debilitating headaches for 50 years. Various trips to "specialists" over the years resulted in diagnoses from "growing pains" to "side effects of epilepsy" to "migraine" to "stress" to "50 year old neck on a 30 year old body." In the last couple of years I visited a Spanish chiropractor who finally made the connection between shoulder alignment and the resulting pain. He managed to temporarily reduce the frequency and intensity of the pain but still provided no lasting solution. (Not that I was really expecting it after so many years.) So, apologies for the rambling, that's when I found this book. Having read it I had a photo taken of my back and was truly astounded at how much lower one of my shoulder blades rested compared with the other one. Specialist 0, book 1! I started the exercises and approached the whole thing with a positive attitude, as encouraged by the author. It didn't work! However, I could tell the whole approach was in the right area so I went back to the beginning and looked carefully at the videos they supplied on the website. I then realised that, having done my best to follow them, I hadn't quite adhered to the instructions. There were subtle differences between my actions and those of the video. These made a huge difference and I would recommend asking somebody to follow your actions and be as critical as possible. When I followed the steps very closely I suddenly found that I could feel stretching and releasing going on in the muscles of my neck and shoulder which I hadn't before. These were the keys to the treatment! The end result of all this is that I still have problems with my neck and still get excruciatingly painful headaches. However, I now have a set of exercises which help. Depending on the severity they will either reduce the pain, remove it temporarily or limit the duration. (I sometimes had the pain for 4 or 5 days and now the maximum is 1 day.) For me this represents a great success and I'm still tempted to give the book 5 stars!

The first time I did the exercises which were simple and easy to do, I went to bed pain free, amazing. I'm not very good at sticking to an exercise routine but when you see such good results it keeps you going. The video clips on the web site show you exactly how to do them properly.He gives you a lot of tips and advice in the book which really makes you think about the way you move, the position you sleep in, your posture when driving. Things that I had never thought about. I would highly recommend this book.