Book excerpt: The latest advice from the original bestselling Back Doctor Twenty-five years ago, Dr. Hamilton Hall wrote the book that changed the way back-pain sufferers deal with their affliction. In The Back Doctor, he advocated activity instead of bed rest. In place of braces and girdles, he suggested that patients follow a program of specific exercise. Most of all, he took the mystery out of back pain. Three out of four Canadian adults, and an increasing number of children, suffer some form of back discomfort. They make up a huge and lucrative market for unscrupulous practitioners. New treatments – new drugs, new devices, and supposedly new, high-tech therapies – are advertised daily. New controversies, such as a recent scare about chiropractic neck manipulation, find their way into newspaper headlines. A Consultation with the Back Doctor is Dr. Hall’s response to these and other developments. This is a completely new book. It is written, like its predecessors, in an informal, easy-to-understand question-and-answer format. Readers will come away with a sound understanding of their condition and a practical course of action to make it better.