2020-04-01_GQ_UserUpload.Net

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The indignity was nothing

new. For about a decade,

my life had been oriented

around lower-lumbar pain

and the constant lurking

threat of sacral spasms. But

things have changed. I’m

writing this letter after an

early-morning session at the

gym, where I worked out

with no back pain. Yesterday

I took a flight without a

twinge, pang, or creak. In

fact, since November, I have

been getting in and out

of cramped UberXs, sitting

through 60- and 90-minute

work meetings, and sleeping

in a succession of hotel

beds—each with a di≠erent

mattress firmness and

pillow height, two kisses

of lower-lumbar death!—

without any issues.

All because I read a book.

Healing Back Pain: The

Mind-Body Connection, by

Dr. John E. Sarno, changed

my life so completely that

I don’t know what to do to

celebrate it other than to

write about it here. As far as

I’m concerned, the book

is utterly magical—yet its

magic is easy to explain. It

simply showed me that the

pain was all in my mind.

Here’s the deal: Over his

decades-long career, Sarno,

a doctor of rehabilitation

medicine in New York,

noticed that chronic back

pain was reaching epidemic

proportions. Western

medicine, meanwhile, was

doing its thing—doctors

attributed the pain so many

people were experiencing

to structural abnormalities

in the spine and treated

patients accordingly, with

surgery and opioids. The

success rates were dismal.

Until, that is, Dr. Sarno

developed a theory that

boils down to this: There’s

nothing structurally wrong

with our backs. The issues

are psychosomatic. The

real cause of back, shoulder,

and neck pain in thousands

and thousands of cases

is unaddressed emotional

issues that manifest as

physical ailments. Sarno

calls it TMS: Tension Myositis

Syndrome. Which means

muscular pain caused by,

well, tension. From stress,

for instance. Or anxiety.

Both of which I know well.

Dr. Sarno discovered

that a staggering number

of the people he treated—not

everyone, of course, but

those who fit the bill for TMS

(including Larry David

and Howard Stern)—could

find relief in part by simply

acknowledging that there

was nothing wrong with

their backs. Read the book.

Accept the theory and

diagnosis. Watch your pain

detach from your back and

float away. Which is exactly

what happened to me. Crazy.

What is infuriating

(if not surprising) is that

Dr. Sarno was ignored,

isolated, and ridiculed by

many of his colleagues in

the medical establishment

who refused to accept as

medicine a diagnosis and

treatment that bridged

the gap between physical

and emotional wellness.

And which often required

nothing more than the

prescription of a cheap

paperback.

Dr. Sarno passed away

in 2017. I consider him

to be a saint, and I say

prayers of gratitude for him

and the revolutionary

simplicity of his work every

single day. I can’t believe

so many people who are

su≠ering still haven’t heard

of this book. If you know

someone who has back

pain that can’t quite be

explained, don’t even

bother telling them about

this article. This is a

stellar issue of GQ , but it

can wait. Just send them

straight to Saint Sarno’s

magical book.

LAST JUNE, I WAS IN PARIS for the men’s fashion shows and had a Friday-

morning plan to meet my friend Joe Holder—GQ’s wellness columnist—

for a workout. (For Joe’s tips on working out while traveling, see page 40.)

Instead, I texted him from the floor of my hotel room to cancel. My back

had spasmed. I was unstable and in pain, and over the next few days,

people started texting me street-style photos that depicted me walking

into fashion shows physically holding my back in place with my hands.

Glamorous stuff!!

Will Welch

EDITOR IN CHIEF

My Last

Spazz

How this $

book cured a

decade of

back-pain hell.

10 GQ.COM APRIL 2020

FRO

M TO

P: M

ATTEO

M

OBILIO

; M

ATT M

ARTIN