Back Pain - How I got rid of it!

[zenyogi]

Back pain,

 

Why am I'm going to share this? Everyone is going to go though it at some point in their lives. It can become an obstacle to our Qigong or Tai Chi practice and so many other things of course. I read before that some members have had back issues also so I decided to share.

 

Long story short, I had lower back pain and sciatica for over 6 months. I tried many things and eventually my back got healed.

 

I wanted to share with you guys what had helped me. Having back pain for such a long time for sure was my karma, I don't doubt that. But I feel I should share with you guys the things I did that worked and that healed my back.

 

 

1 - Diet - Having an anti inflammatory diet is a must. The main two things I completely cut out of my diet were sugar and caffeine, especially coffee. Both of those things create more inflammation and slow down the healing process tremendously. Sugar and caffeine do much more damage beyond that but in the scope of this little post I like to keep it to the point.

 

2 - Exercise - Twists, leg raises and other exercises that strengthen the core muscles is really important. Once the corse muscles get trained properly and become stronger it's easier for you body to keep things in place.

 

3 - Correct sitting posture - No more sloughing on chairs and couches, always sitting straight without leaning against something really helps strengthen core muscles and keeps you alert also. Sitting on the ground is best.

 

4 - Chiropractic adjustments - I had a friend give me chiropractic adjustments, mainly my neck and back. My atlas kept going out of place, what created a strain on my back, my lower back being the weakest point, that's where the trouble started. After 5 sessions things stayed in place and my body was adjusting to the original postion of the spine again.

 

5 - Inversion Table - At some point along the road I was very desperate to heal my back so I decided to buy an inversion table. In that way I could hang upside down with no strain anywhere and that allowed my spine to relax, create space and align. This made a huge difference! It completely removed my sciatica (pinched nerve). I still hang upside down twice daily to keep my spine in excellent shape and of course inversion has many other great benefits. After a long day it's the ultimate way to de-stress.

 

6 - Prayer - Prayer is powerful. It never hurts to pray for the right thing. If you have back issues, pray, pray that you may be healed and keep having faith that one day you will heal your back. The right circumstances will happen one day to let that happen.

 

7 - Herbs - There are great herbs that you can take to reduce inflammation and assist the body in healing itself. One of them is a herb called "Sallaki" There are other herb also, either Ayurvedic, Chinese or other that can assist you but really depends on the individual.

 

8 - Acupuncture - Everyone knows this. It is always helpful. Can help greatly with reducing inflammation and clearing out the pathways for the energy to flow better to heal yourself faster.

 

9 - Qigong - For the little Qigong I was doing during this time I feel it has helped a bit. Specifically I was doing Flying Phoenix Qigong learned from Sifu Terry Dunn. I wasn't able to do much but when I did I feel it helped.

 

If at least one person has drawn inspiration from my little post here then it was already totally worth it. If you have back pain, may it heal fast for you and may you continue to do great things in life.

 

Ben

 

PS: I'd like to encourage everyone reading this to share their ways of getting rid of their back pain.

Edited January 13, 2015 by zenyogi

[doc benway]

I was able to get rid of chronic back pain with two methods -

1. Recognizing the connection between my back pain and repressed/suppressed emotion - primarily anger. Thanks to Dr. John Sarno's work.

2. Hamstring stretching, by the time I could easily relax into a stretch with my palms flat on the ground and my knees fully extended, my pain was gone

 

The change was remarkable. Wonderful to hear you also found a solution.

[Silent Answers]

I was able to get rid of chronic back pain with two methods -

1. Recognizing the connection between my back pain and repressed/suppressed emotion - primarily anger. Thanks to Dr. John Sarno's work.

2. Hamstring stretching, by the time I could easily relax into a stretch with my palms flat on the ground and my knees fully extended, my pain was gone

 

The change was remarkable. Wonderful to hear you also found a solution.

Exactly the same case and solution here.

[zenyogi]

I was able to get rid of chronic back pain with two methods -

1. Recognizing the connection between my back pain and repressed/suppressed emotion - primarily anger. Thanks to Dr. John Sarno's work.

2. Hamstring stretching, by the time I could easily relax into a stretch with my palms flat on the ground and my knees fully extended, my pain was gone

 

The change was remarkable. Wonderful to hear you also found a solution.

 

Thanks for sharing the things that helped your back pain.

 

Stretching the right muscles certainly is an excellent and almost necessary way of healing / preventing back pain.

Edited January 13, 2015 by zenyogi

[Silent Answers]

I'm quite a heavy coffee drinker, too... I'll try to stop "doing" coffee this month and report back if I notice any improvements. There's still a lingering ache in my lower back which comes and goes, stemming (I think) from a problem slightly lower down. Thanks for the thread

[zenyogi]

I'm quite a heavy coffee drinker, too... I'll try to stop "doing" coffee this month and report back if I notice any improvements. There's still a lingering ache in my lower back which comes and goes, stemming (I think) from a problem slightly lower down. Thanks for the thread

 

Silent Answers,

 

Sounds like a great experiment to do. After the first week I gave up coffee and sugar I noticed a big shift I'm going to PM you something if you don't mind.

 

Ben

[Owledge]

Double post

This worked for me, too.

[Ya Mu]

Back Pain

 

Millions upon millions of dollars are spent each year on "managing" back pain. Huh.. Yes, sometimes managing is the only thing that can be done. But mostly, there is always a source of back pain.

 

I see the "mental - emotional" connection mentioned. And yes, it certainly can be a cause. Emotional trauma is just like physical trauma - it embeds itself as sick qi.

 

But what I found in my 35 years of running a pain clinic where I specialized in the elimination of pain, is that the majority of back pain usually is a palpable - traced to old or new injury - physical problem. Of course here is the "problem" in recognizing the problem - very few practitioners are trained in the art of palpation and have no idea as to how to get at the source of said problem.

 

A person can go to any of the schools of physical medicine and study their tails off, make high grades, graduate, and still have no freakin idea of how to palpate, how to find the source of the injury.

 

I see stretching mentioned. Yes, in some cases this can help immensely. But in others it actually aggravates the problem. If I had a dollar for every session I have done on a yoga teacher who has come to me for back relief, I would be able to take a vacation in the Bahamas and pay for all my beer and goombay smashes.

 

I used to bundle and sell as a "kit" a combination of herbs and nutraceuticals that really helped a lot. I called it something like "Pane-EL". I have actually recently thought about re-doing this and putting it back out there.

 

The Chinese Taoist medicine that I practice and teach has been most effective at pain elimination. We don't do "pain management". This form of therapy is what took me from a person who could not function in society to a person who could walk, work, and enjoy life. This form of therapeutics is one that all physical medicine folks should look at learning.

 

The individual practice of Qigong has been immensely effective in helping to eliminate pain in may people. And of course medical qigong therapy, wai qi liao fa, ranks up there as one of the single most effective forms of pain elimination that exists.

 

I personally have been to and hung around over an estimated 150-200 practitioners of manipulation and I found only about less than 5 who could actually manipulate properly. So I suggest to be very careful about selection of such a practitioner. That said, it can be most effective if done by a practitioner who knows how to palpate and who actually has the sensitivity to be able to manipulate correctly. If you want to see some amazing forms of this, find a good Tu Na hospital in China and watch some of those guys.

 

Elimination of toxins is always a good thing to do. Cigarette smoking is probably one of the worst offenders where pain is concerned. The last several years of my practice I refused to work on people unless they were willing to quit. I personally have not seen the miraculous back pain elimination in folks who just gave up caffeine. In some instances I thought it did help.

 

I guess my main advice is to do something about it. Don't sit around and hurt. Investigate and find something that works.

[zenyogi]

Back Pain

 

Millions upon millions of dollars are spent each year on "managing" back pain. Huh.. Yes, sometimes managing is the only thing that can be done. But mostly, there is always a source of back pain.

 

I see the "mental - emotional" connection mentioned. And yes, it certainly can be a cause. Emotional trauma is just like physical trauma - it embeds itself as sick qi.

 

But what I found in my 35 years of running a pain clinic where I specialized in the elimination of pain, is that the majority of back pain usually is a palpable - traced to old or new injury - physical problem. Of course here is the "problem" in recognizing the problem - very few practitioners are trained in the art of palpation and have no idea as to how to get at the source of said problem.

 

A person can go to any of the schools of physical medicine and study their tails off, make high grades, graduate, and still have no freakin idea of how to palpate, how to find the source of the injury.

 

I see stretching mentioned. Yes, in some cases this can help immensely. But in others it actually aggravates the problem. If I had a dollar for every session I have done on a yoga teacher who has come to me for back relief, I would be able to take a vacation in the Bahamas and pay for all my beer and goombay smashes.

 

I used to bundle and sell as a "kit" a combination of herbs and nutraceuticals that really helped a lot. I called it something like "Pane-EL". I have actually recently thought about re-doing this and putting it back out there.

 

The Chinese Taoist medicine that I practice and teach has been most effective at pain elimination. We don't do "pain management". This form of therapy is what took me from a person who could not function in society to a person who could walk, work, and enjoy life. This form of therapeutics is one that all physical medicine folks should look at learning.

 

The individual practice of Qigong has been immensely effective in helping to eliminate pain in may people. And of course medical qigong therapy, wai qi liao fa, ranks up there as one of the single most effective forms of pain elimination that exists.

 

I personally have been to and hung around over an estimated 150-200 practitioners of manipulation and I found only about less than 5 who could actually manipulate properly. So I suggest to be very careful about selection of such a practitioner. That said, it can be most effective if done by a practitioner who knows how to palpate and who actually has the sensitivity to be able to manipulate correctly. If you want to see some amazing forms of this, find a good Tu Na hospital in China and watch some of those guys.

 

Elimination of toxins is always a good thing to do. Cigarette smoking is probably one of the worst offenders where pain is concerned. The last several years of my practice I refused to work on people unless they were willing to quit. I personally have not seen the miraculous back pain elimination in folks who just gave up caffeine. In some instances I thought it did help.

 

I guess my main advice is to do something about it. Don't sit around and hurt. Investigate and find something that works.

Excellent post Ya Mu,

Thanks for sharing your insights and experiences with everyone.

 

Ben