The Canadian fitness guru who showed us how to slow—even reverse—aging in her international bestseller Aging Backwards, is back with a revolutionary way to alleviate chronic pain with movement. "Our bodies are designed to be pain-free through our lives," says Miranda Esmonde-White, "but to achieve that, we have to move."

In Forever Painless, Miranda Esmonde-White introduces us to a new understanding of how chronic pain begins when our muscles become unbalanced and cause connective tissue problems. Something as common as daily habits or as unexpected as accidents or injuries create imbalance, and we compensate by favouring our weaker part, leading to strain on our feet, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, upper back, lower back, elbows, wrists or neck—and eventually such conditions as arthritis, chronic back pain, plantar fasciitis and fibromyalgia. Hips and knees are especially problematic: surgeons often tell those with chronic hip or knee pain to tough it out and come back in two or three years when the damage is sufficiently severe that only a joint replacement will do. Forever Painless deals with preventing and reversing imbalances so you can live a pain-free life.

Forever Painless will teach you a new way of looking at your body, providing neurological and physiological explanations for the causes of most chronic pain and teaching you simple exercises that real people have used to become free of pain and regain mobility. Among those who have conquered their pain using the techniques in this book: the director of child services in New York City who used these exercises to recover from disabling chronic back pain; an accountant who avoided major bone reconstruction surgery through 20 minutes a day of stretching and strengthening; a prima ballerina whose career was extended by five years when Esmonde-White's exercises relieved her debilitating hip pain. "It's time to change our relationship with chronic pain," Esmonde-White writes. "The solution is right under our noses, it's free and it doesn't require drugs or surgery: it's gentle rebalancing exercises."

Miranda Esmonde-White's profile page

• Winner, Nautilus Silver Award

MIRANDA ESMONDE-WHITE is one of North America's greatest educators on healthy aging and pain-free living. She is best known for her PBS specials and her fitness series, Classical Stretch, on-air since 1999 and rated the #1 fitness show on the network. She is a classically trained ballerina who danced with the National Ballet of Canada. Esmonde-White created the Essentrics technique, which uses low-intensity strengthening and stretching exercises to relieve pain, prevent injury and slenderize and tone the body. Based in Montreal, her company works with professional and Olympic athletes and celebrities, offering classes to tens of thousands of students worldwide each year. She is the author of Aging Backwards, a New York Times and Globe and Mail bestseller that sparked an award-winning PBS pledge-documentary of the same name. Her subsequent bestseller, Forever Painless, also became a PBS pledge-documentary mega hit.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD, SILVER WINNER FOR BODY, MIND & SPIRIT PRACTICES
“Forever Painless presents an accessible and widely available solution to the current pain epidemic, inspiring audiences to take their health into their own hands. In addition, interviews with individuals who have cured their chronic pain through gentle, daily exercise offer . . . moving stories of those who have suffered and triumphed.” —KPBS News (San Diego)

“One of the most damaging consequences of chronic pain, whatever its origin, is the tendency to stop moving. The programme offered in Forever Painless is a deceptively simple exercise technique that can gently interrupt and reverse the cycle of pain and physical deterioration. It leaves no stone unturned as every part of the body gets attention, and restores harmony as it brings the body back in tune with itself. We are fortunate to have this treasure, and it is up to each of us to make use of it.” —Helene M. Langevin, M.D., Director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Bethesda, Maryland

“The key to being and remaining healthy is prevention. Miranda’s programme offers everybody the chance to do just that. I appreciate its common-sense philosophy of smooth, full-body movements in a dynamic, non-stressful manner. I feel stronger from one session to the next and, best of all, I don’t want to stop doing it!” —Dominique Levesque, M.D., Montreal Children’s Hospital

PRAISE FOR AGING BACKWARDS:

“Our bodies were made to move, no matter our age. This new guide on how to reverse the effects of aging from the founder of the popular PBS show Classical Stretch and a former dancer with the Canadian National Ballet, describes how we can actually repair joint pain and muscle loss, as well as boost energy and weight loss through a series of gentle, scientifically-based stretch workouts. If you’ve been meaning to start a fitness program but are put off by vigorous gym or yoga sessions, or if you’re hindered by joint or muscle pain, pick up this book.” —Zoomer

“Scientific, yet entertaining and accessible” —Arizona Public Media

“Miranda explores a large variety of physiological mechanisms that will help contribute to maintaining a youthful body as we inevitably enter into later stages of life. Her fundamental preaching is correct.” —Claudio Cuello, M.D., D.Sc., FRSC, OC, professor and former chair of the Pharmacology and Therapeutics Department, McGill University