MELT Method: The Key to Fixing Back Pain?

Book Review: The MELT Method

Author: Sue Hitzmann
304 pages, Harper Collins, $25.99

Are you suffering from chronic pain? Do you have a pain in your neck that won’t go away? Or pain in your foot that you just can’t explain? You do not have to live with this any longer. Sue Hitzmann, a nationally recognized manual therapist and somatic-movement educator, provides you with her simple, hands-off technique to pain-free living in her book, The MELT Method. That’s right – you don’t need to have an expensive surgery or take pain killers that only mask the problem (or cause a bigger one), Hitzmann’s MELT is a low-impact method that will help you live a healthier, happier lifestyle in only ten minutes a day!

With that being said, you cannot rush MELT because that would be counter intuitive. Chronic pain stems from our connective tissue system – though most experts believe that it actually begins in your nervous system. Hitzmann explains the science behind the connective tissue system in order to help you better understand where your pain stems from. Until recently, scientists have disregarded the layers of connective tissue as just another layer of skin, claiming that it does no more than hold things into place. However, Hitzmann suggests that the connective tissue system is the body’s brain – communicating with all parts to make sure it is functioning correctly. Have you ever wondered why we can walk and carry on a conversation at the same time? We are not thinking about when to bend the knee, straighten, swing the opposite leg forward, bend the knee, and straighten and repeat. For Hitzmann, our connective tissues do this work for us. Unfortunately, when our bodies do not perform optimally, Hitzmann believes, there is something wrong with the connective tissue system.

The body is always trying to repair and balance itself. However, when you throw out your back, injure your knee, or even repeatedly sit with your back hunched over your desk at work, your body will try to compensate for the misalignment. Unfortunately, while your body is trying to bring you back into some semblance of alignment it can create pain in areas that you may not think are connected. You may wonder “Why do I always have a headache” or “Why do I have insomnia” when you have made no change in your lifestyle. Hitzmann maintains that these issues and many others are due to the body’s lack of balance.

In order to bring our bodies back into balance, Hitzmann provides a 30-day self-treatment plan. This plan revolves around her theory of the Four Rs: Reconnect, Rebalance, Rehydrate, and Release. It is common thought that to expel pain we must inflict pain upon ourselves, but Hitzmann tosses that idea out the window. Using a soft foam roller and soft balls, she teaches you breathing, compression (and decompression), and balancing techniques that will help you deplete your pain without having to experience any more pain. The MELT Method self-treatment plan has pictures, descriptions and online resources to help you attain optimal results. These pictures and descriptions are repeated throughout the book so you do not have to flip back in order to find each sequence. Additionally, Hitzmann offers a 10-minute daily and weekly self-treatment plan for both upper and lower body sequences as well as a 15-20 minute plan.

MELT is not only for people looking to eliminate chronic pain; this method is for anyone wanting to look and feel younger, happier and healthier. The MELT Method is a journey of how Hitzmann created this revolutionary self-treatment plan. Discover how she developed this method, read testimonials of her clients, and learn these techniques for yourself. The MELT Method has helped more than 50, 000 people, and it may be just what you need to start living a healthier and pain-free life.