This review is written by Jeisea, the excellent blogger at CRPS-RSD A Better Life.

What I’d like to share with you is the new NOI Group book The Graded Motor Imagery Handbook. This follows on from their really helpful Explain Pain book. Dr. Lorimer Moseley, one of the 4 authors says, “people in pain do better if they are given the resources to master their situation”. This new book provides a great resource.

A persistent theme is that treatment requires patience and persistence, courage and commitment. From my own experience I have to agree with that. There are five sections: knowledge, background, treatment, stories and tool boxes. Dr. David Butler explains that “graded motor imagery” (GMI) is a series of novel treatment strategies which remind us that representation of body in the brain should be considered in all patients. Importantly he says that patients cannot be just passive recipients of treatment. They need to self manage and understand that gaining knowledge is part of treatment – knowledge is power – knowledge can be therapy. “If you have knowledge of GMI, you have skills to know why it hurts so much today and how to deal with it.” Again, I couldn’t agree more. Not knowing what was happening to me and feeling like I had no control were the most frightening things about being diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).

Dr. Moseley explains the science behind GMI which helps us understand the important message that, beyond doubt, pain can be reduced by brain retraining methods. Tim Beames goes much further into the practical aspects of treatment, the stages, adaptive techniques, how to use Recognise, implicit and explicit motor imagery and on to mirror therapy. There are also photos of mirror therapy in practice with a great “how to do mirror therapy” table on page 89. It’s refreshing to see the depth of information and practical support that Tom Giles gives in the last section. From system requirements and connecting to Recognize to making your own resources, Tom explains it all simply and logically.

I believe The Graded Motor Imagery Handbook  is a great resource for patients, but I consider it a must for those who treat people in pain. I got mine from NOI Group, but it’s also on Amazon. I know many clinicians loan Explain Pain to patients and hope that The Graded Motor Imagery Handbook is also shared in this way.

Thanks to Jeisea for sharing this resource and about NOI in general!