Dr. Mitchell Yass - The Yass Method for Pain-Free Movement: A Guide to Easing through Your Day without Aches and Pains

Praise for The Yass Method for Pain-Free Movement

Dr. Yasss insights can help relieve the suffering of chronic pain for millions.
His observation that most bodily pain results from muscular imbalance is
right on target, and his individualized approach to focused muscle
strengthening is a major advance that really works.

Leo Galland, M.D., author of The Allergy Solution

Mitchell Yass has developed a proven system to reduce, and even
eliminate, chronic pain. If youve been told you just have to live
with it, the wonderful and inspiring news is that you dont.

Bryan Hubbard, publisher, What Doctors Dont Tell You

ALSO BY DR. MITCHELL YASS

The Pain Cure Rx:
The Yass Method for Diagnosing and Resolving Chronic Pain

Overpower Pain:
The Strength-Training Program That Stops Pain without Drugs or Surgery

All of the above are available at your local bookstore, or may be ordered by visiting:

Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com
Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au
Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk
Hay House India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Copyright 2018 by Mitchell Yass

Published in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Indexer: Jay Kreider

Illustrations by: Scott Leighton, provided by Dr. Mitchell Yass

Photos by: Dr. Mitchell Yass, Lisa Yass and Natalya Yass

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Yass, Mitchell T, 1961- author.

Title: The Yass method for pain-free movement : a guide to easing through your day without aches and pains / Dr. Mitchell Yass.

Description: Carlsbad, California : Hay House, Inc., [2018]

Identifiers: LCCN 2017060612 | ISBN 9781401954611 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Chronic pain--Exercise therapy. | Muscle strength. | Exercise--Physiological aspects. | Self-care, Health. | BISAC: HEALTH & FITNESS / Pain Management. | MEDICAL / Allied Health Services / Physical Therapy. | HEALTH & FITNESS / Healing.

Classification: LCC RB127 .Y38 2018 | DDC 616/.0472--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017060612

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4019-5461-1

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1st edition, May 2018

Printed in the United States of America

To my wife, Lisa, and my daughter, Natalya, thank you for your support during this difficult journey. Trying to exist without a safety net has been very difficult, but your love and affection have made it much easier. I love you both for allowing me to be who I think I need to be.

Over the past quarter of a century, I have been addressing the issue of chronic pain with thousands of people who have suffered from months to decades. Chronic pain has become an acceptable condition in society worldwide, similar to a systemic disease such as cancer or cardiovascular disease. However, chronic pain is actually a cultural phenomenon and not a medical one. This line of thinking has been brought on by the advent of the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) procedure, which finds structural variations like herniated discs, stenosis, pinched nerves, arthritis, meniscal tears, and the like and asserts that since these structural variations are identified at the time of pain, they must be the cause of pain. No logic, no theoretical basis, no multiyear study to show the correlation. It was simply unveiled and implemented. This is the primary explanation for the cause of chronic pain according to the medical establishment.

Pain is an indication of a tissue in distress. Pain is part of the bodys defense mechanism. It is designed to provide a way for a tissue that is not functioning properly to create awareness of its failings so an intervention can be triggered to correct the issue. Quite simply, once the tissue is not functioning properly, acute pain is emitted. If the right tissue is identified and treated, the emergency distress call will no longer be needed and the pain will cease.

From the time I entered medical school, I knew something was wrong with the existing academic curriculum when it came to the issue of diagnosing and treating pain. I decided to devise a method to identify the correct tissue that is in distress and thereby lead to the right treatment. This passion to find out how pain actually works became my focus morning, noon, and night. This was the intellectual aspect of the battle.

The emotional aspect of the battle came from treating thousands in which pain overtook their lives. I have treated patients who were suicidal, addicted to pain medication, depressed, despondent, or unable to maintain family relationships, a job, or to have a clear thought without pain overtaking their stream of consciousness. These were people pleading for help. They were willing to do anything to resolve their pain and get their lives back. They were angry and frustrated. They had done everything they were told to do and yet they still lived in pain. This emotional pain has been the primary driving force in my quest to create awareness of the true source of physical pain and its remedy.

One of the overriding questions that patients have when they hear about the Yass Method and its core principles is, How come nobody else is doing this? There is nothing more satisfying to me than seeing the transference of knowledge about the Yass Method to a person who has the potential to now have power over their body and understand what they need to do to resolve their pain and, better yet, to prevent it from recurring. This was never just a job for me. It started off being a quest for knowledge and ended up being a quest to end the plague of chronic pain worldwide.

What you must understand is that chronic pain is not the result of chronic disease. Chronic pain is the result of misdiagnosed acute pain. Chronic pain should not be perceived like a disease. Instead, it is part of the bodys protective mechanism. It is not its own entity like a tissue. You dont treat pain. You treat the tissue in distress that is eliciting pain. To achieve this, you need to properly diagnose that tissue. You need the Yass Method. The problem with the existing system is not that it doesnt know how to treat pain. The problem is that it doesnt know how to diagnose the tissue in distress eliciting pain.

Over two decades of my career, Ive looked for common links among the thousands of patients Ive treated for chronic pain. Was there something tangible that presented as a uniform among those suffering from chronic pain? Was there a way to isolate these trouble sources to prevent them from ever recurring? It quickly became clear that those suffering from chronic pain seemed to describe their pain in connection to performing functional activities in their daily lives. They would note the pain would come if they climbed stairs, tried to kneel, sat for a period of time, reached up, reached behind, or walked extensively. For some the pain would occur when performing the activity, while for others, the pain came afterward. There was no question, however, that if they did nothing, the pain wouldnt occur. This, naturally, led me to associate the pain with dysfunction. And I realized that the tissue associated with the dysfunction was muscle.