Pains of practice

[hagar]

h

Edited May 25, 2009 by hagar

[GrandTrinity]

damn that sounds bad, do reiki on it, do chi kung moves with hand in the air...if you know any chi kung it should fix it...??

[hagar]

h

Edited May 25, 2009 by hagar

[peter falk]

have you tried feldenkreis or chiropractic?

[hagar]

h

Edited May 25, 2009 by hagar

[rex]

Joint pain can sometimes be the result of excess cold energy in the body and apparently unrelated to what one would think is the cause. This happened to me with joint pain in my left knee. I've cut out refridgerated soya milk (renowned in TCM for a chilling effect on the body) and the pain is now going away. Good luck.

 

Rex

[sean]

I injured my back about 10 years ago when I did some extreme Yoga and having forgotten I had taken pain killers earlier in the afternoon. I had this amazing session, "damn I am sooo flexible today". Not. Next day I couldn't get out of bed. I screwed something up bad. Eventually it healed fair enough but I would have reoccurring bouts of extreme lower back pain that would sometimes be so acute it would almost send me to the floor if I was walking around. Two and a half years later I would still have days where it was so bad I would just lay around all day. Ok, long story shorter, I bought this book read about 85% of it at which point I got the idea, did the basic method (which I can barely remember now, if you get the book please remind me) and have literally had maybe 1-3 very minor issues with my lower back in the 7 years after reading the book. Check it out. Damn, and it's got 272 reviews.

 

...

 

 

Oh yeah, also Warrior Wellness.

 

Had to say it.

 

Sean.

[Munch]

One of my teachers had a bit of a fucked back, and he used to take his wife's period medication, just to relax the muscles enough to do gentle stretches. Feminax or syndol, if you're in UK.

 

On a different tack entirely, I had some really painful back stuff recently. Couldn't bend, could barely walk upstairs. But when I laid down, the whole area felt really open and flowy. As if, in order to have that part of the body open, I had to learn new and more suitable ways of moving, under the intense guidance of pain.

 

I feel I partly succeeded, and partly let it close up again.

 

Don't know if that helps,

M

[spyrelx]

Hagar,

 

The first thing I'd do is go to a western doctor and get an x-ray. You might have messed up a disc and if so, you should find that out.

 

I speak from experience. What you're describing sounds a bit like what I have gone through. I didn't "slip" or "rupture" a disc, but, according to my doctor, I "compromised" it, which means it pushed out a bit from the spine, not enough to be a full blown rupture but enough to hurt.

 

If you have messed up a disc there may be certain types of exercises/physical therapy designed specifically to fix the way you messed it up. (this can of course be complimented with yoga, chiropractic, etc, but you should first know what you're dealing with).

 

For example, the one really interesting thing I learned from my injury was this. 95% of all bending we do with the lower back is forward. Even when you are sitting you are "bending forward" in that your knees are up. Lotus position is an even more extreme form of this bending forward.

 

Most lower back injuries involving discs are the result of the disc moving out from the rear of the spine. In other words, you bend forward and your disc pops out in the back.

 

Much of my therapy involves things that bend the spine BACKWARD, e.g., standing up and leaning back, the "cobra' move in yoga, etc. The idea here is to open up more space in the front of the spine and hopefully have the disc slip back to its normal spot.

 

So here's my advice. First, if you're in sharp pain now, don't do any manipulation, yoga, etc. Basically just rest and eat a bunch of non-inflamatory stuff like advil. Also try either a cold compress or a heat compress (people respond differently, I find cold works for me). Right now the area/spine/disc is probably inflamed and you need to get it un-inflamed before you can do anything to it.

 

Second, go get an x-ray and see if anything shows up.

 

After that you can decide on a course of action.

 

Good luck,

 

spyrelx

[hagar]

h

Edited May 25, 2009 by hagar

[thelerner]

Sorry to hear about the back. I had siatica pretty bad a long time ago. Like Alcoholics Anonymous, you can go for very long periods with no problem, but once you get cocky the pain awakens!

 

A surgeon said(no surprise) I needed surgery. I think Seans book will point out that back surgeons shown random xrays will say 80% need back surgery immediately, even though they are random people walking down the street.

 

There is a huge psychological component to back pain. Once it starts it becomes a cycle of pain. The pain causes tightness, the tightness reinforces the pain, round and round.

 

Ultimately, strength and flexibility, are the best insurance against reoccurrence. In the meantime don't be afraid of pain killers, usually a couple of ibuprofen, gentle stretching. If long sitting may be aggravating it, stop for a while.

 

On the other hand, if it gets too out of control a doctor/chiropractor w/ advice and codeine might be just the ticket.

 

Peace

 

Michael

[Yoda]

When I've done a lot of cross legged sitting, my back tends to have trouble too. I don't think of it as anything more than that. Just sit on a chair or back off the practice and go more slowly. It's frustrating, as the practice doesn't feel very physically challenging, but there you have it. Get well soon! -Yoda

[RedFox]

I agree with whoever wrote about working on stretching/flexibility. although I would stretch for a while first, then work on strengthening.

 

If I was having back pain from sitting in a chair or car, I would stretch the psoas muscle first. If its tight, it can pull hard on the lumbar spine all by itself. After that, I would check the flexibility of my quadriceps, gluteus maximus, piriformis, and hamstrings.

 

If your not sure what movements those muscles make (or how to stretch them) a decent book is the Wharton's Stretch Book by Jim & Phil Wharton. Good for beginners, but what I like is it has diagrams of what limited, normal, and above normal range of motion is for a wide variety of muscles. I would ultimately learn how to stretch muscles that aren't at normal/average range of motion. if they don't already hurt, they're good indicators of what could cause problems down the road. Easier to work those out before the pain shows up.

 

Probably preaching to the choir (sorry if so) but, if possible, treat this pain as a communication from the body, as feedback, rather than an obstacle to overcome or quell. Body uses pain to get ur attention. These are great learning times if you're open to it.

 

 

Ok, Question:

 

The last month I've focused mainly on sitting in my practice. Along with this I have gotten a F....... intense pain in my lower back. We're talking intense. I can't bend over properly. Putting my pants on in the morning is a time consuming ordeal, and the pain moves about in my pelvis and coccyx.

 

The interesting part of it is that I thought it was stress symptoms. (I'm stressed out with my thesis) But the pains started the first time during an alchemy retreat in July, then subsided when I returned home, and now have returned with a vengance. It feels like the pain you have in the spine when you have a high fever or similar.

 

I know I have some old back issues, and I also know that this area is usually hard to open, but come on! This is too much. I just wonder if anyone here has any easy advice to give. This norse man is in agony!

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