Living Abled and Healthy: Your Guide to Injury and Illness Recovery

"Living Abled and Healthy... navigates the reader through important ways of recovering from injury and illness... [and] is a "must-read" for all those interested in illness, disability, and successful recovery... An invaluable resource..." -ROBERT J. GATCHEL, PhD, ABPP, director, Center of Excellence for the Study of Health and Chronic Illnesses, The University of Texas at Arlington "This essential book provides a greatly needed guide and resource for injured people... a roadmap to avoid the path to disability. It teaches those who are injured how to instead live full, vibrant, abled lives." -PAMELA WARREN, PhD, editor of Behavioral Health Disability "Living Abled and Healthy is... intended specifically to encourage injured workers to focus on... being abled and not disabled... The authors provide a major service in bringing together in one place a discussion of all of the issues and tensions surrounding our present-day disability systems." -JUDGE DAVID TORREY, president, the National Association of Workers' Compensation Judiciary "It is 'how many times you get up' that describes the valued life. Resilience, renewal, recovery are all wellsprings of our existence. Dr. Brigham teaches how to muster our self-efficacy when we need it most." -WALTER BORTZ, MD, author of The Roadmap to 100 and Next Medicine: The Science and Civics of Health "Living Abled and Healthy is an excellent resource for anyone facing, or helping others face, the challenge of recovering as fully as possible from an injury or illness. Well-written and comprehensive for a general audience, particularly individuals who have been injured, it addresses a real need." -BRIAN GOODYEAR, PhD (author of The Relentless Pursuit of Mediocrity) "Living Abled and Healthy puts forth an important message everyone needs to hear-our disability system often inadvertently creates disability rather than curing what should be temporary injuries. Living Abled... explains the dynamics of the disability system. This should be required reading for every medical student, insurance adjuster, lawyer, vocational rehabilitation counselor, and hearings officer! "As an occupational medicine physician I treated workers' compensation injuries for many years. I came to understand the incentives pulling injured workers from acute injury to permanent disability. Living Abled... spells out how this may evolve despite the best of intentions of both the injured worker and the treating specialists. If this book prevents even one injured worker from becoming permanently disabled, it will be worth the cost of the book a thousand times over." -CHUCK KELLEY, MD, MPH, MBA (chairman, Outrigger Enterprises, Inc.) "This book is a bible for anyone who really wants to be well." -AVERYL WALLIS (healthcare consumer) "Living Abled and Healthy is the first book I have read that speaks openly and honestly about the importance of nutrition, the value of attitude, the concepts and perception of pain, and the tolerance and time required for physical-mental-emotional healing. "Recognizing the importance of protein, the importance of overall attitude, and the need to focus on a positive future, of not settling for a diagnosis that is less than tolerable, makes Living Abled... a guidance manual for all within the illness and injury community." -ROSEMARY MCKENZIE-FERGUSON (Work Injured Resource Connection Inc., Australia) "Living Abled and Healthy is about transforming lives for the better. Beyond the personal benefit of taking responsibility for our individual health and lifestyle choices, Living Abled... reminds us of our responsibility to care for one another. "From homes to physician offices, work cubicles to boardrooms, Living Abled... should be required reading by everyone involved in our healthcare-delivery system." -BILL GILMOUR (president, BioMotion of America)