How did Dr. John Sarno’s patients recover from chronic pain?

For thousands of people living with chronic back pain, neck pain and other persistent musculoskeletal conditions, Dr. John Sarno offered an explanation that differed dramatically from conventional medicine.

While many treatments focused on damaged discs, aging joints or muscle injuries, Dr. Sarno believed that a large proportion of chronic pain was maintained by processes within the brain and nervous system rather than ongoing structural damage.

Working as Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University School of Medicine and an attending physician at the Howard A. Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University Medical Center, Dr. Sarno treated patients whose symptoms had often persisted for years despite medication, physical therapy, injections and surgery.