This is an excellent little book, at least it was for me, of 177 pages and as it says below measuring 10" x 8", liberally illustrated with photos and diagrams.

I had persistent lower back pain in 1990 but saw a chiropractor about seven times and have had no more pain until recently. Since continual consumption of NSAIDs is not recommended, I bought a kneeling chair since sitting seems to aggravate the pain. A rocking stool is probably a more apt descriptor for it. I bought the original such chair, designed in Germany and manufactured in Poland of ash for $350 rather than a Chinese knockoff. At first something like shin splints was a problem but my body seems to have accommodated more and more to the chair.

I felt a mixture of hope and skepticism when I read the subtitle of this book but felt I was in no position to ignore it.

A diagnosis of your back pain begins on page 56. Lie on your back on the floor with the backs of your legs also on the floor and evaluate how that feels. Then bend your knees and slide your feet up until your heels are near your buttocks and compare the comfort of these two positions. If you are undecided, bring your knees up to your chest to accentuate the second position. This shouldn't take more than a minute or so.

If you are still undecided the author says hardly anyone finds the first position more comfortable. For the much more common problem a posture analysis is then necessary. These postures, shown on pages 58 and 59, are the lordotic and the swayback. Both postures are problematic but the lordotic is with chest out and shoulders thrown back, a confident pose, I would say. The swayback seems to lack confidence with the shoulders hunched.

I seem to be the latter and on pages 73 and 74 sleep is discussed. Sleeping on your back with a pillow under the knees is recommended which I successfully tried. The author recommends trying to sleep on your stomach but before I bought a gel foam pillow I had to decide what sleeping posture I favored and determined that I am a back and side sleeper. I like the foam pillow (even though it may cause cancer) but may switch back to a traditional pillow so I can try sleeping on my stomach.

On pages 63 and 64 he recommends the Fours Rocking Stretch which he says everyone loves. It is described on page 121 and is sort of like a modified downward dog in yoga.

There is also a diagnosis for a third and final back problem. Remove your shirt and have someone consider your back from a near distance. If there is a fold in the flesh on the left or the right side just above the hips then you have a lateral problem.

But whichever problem or posture you have the author then devotes a chapter to exercises to fix the problem. So perhaps surprisingly the thirty minutes mentioned in the subtitle was no hollow boast, at least not for me.

The photo of the author on the back cover shows a fairly young man. A biographical sketch on page 173 states that he got a physical therapy degree in 1996 and practices in Denver. Contact information including his website is mentioned and he welcomes out of town patients. ( )