Yoga Relieves Back Pain

I've suffered from lower back pain since I was in my teens and I am now in my mid fifties. Five years ago I hurt my back lifting a heavy box and ended up in bed for a week before I was even well enough to leave the house to see a doctor. At that time my physician told me, "If I was a betting man I'd say that you will be a candidate for back surgery within 10 years!"

Well time went by and my ability to walk returned, but things were never really the same. My back had its ups and downs and as time went on the downs came more often and I eventually came to be in a state of constant discomfort every time I got out of a chair or sat at a table in a normal chair.

One day I made up my mind that I wanted a solution. Onto the Internet I go ... Turns out that back surgery is no quarantee of relief and that it can even make things worse ... pills galore, but I don't see how pills can cure my back .... stretching treatments look like medieval torture devices ... no one out there is talking independently about any miracle cures ... hmmm ... I even look into the research that is being done in Japan on exoskeletons and wonder if that could be an alternative for me when things get bad enough?

One day I tell a friend about my dilema and he in turns introduces me to a friend of his who teaches yoga. But more than that, his friend had suffered for years from scoliosis. Yoga gave him his life back and freed him from pain.

After the first session of about 90 minutes I returned to my car to go home and noticed that something was missing .... It was the pain I had gotten so used to every time I got into my car I had stopped noticing it but now that it was gone I did notice that.

After two more session I worked up the courage to go canoing and even to portage my canoe for a short distance. After that I noticed that my back pain went away for about three days after each session. On the third day I would do a session and the pain would be relieved again.

I now try to do my excercise daily. I benefit from having even more power in my back but I also benefit from having increased energy. My 90 minute stroll through the local woods has now suddenly turned into a power walk without me even trying.

So that's my story ... if you suffer from back pain or know someone who does there may be hope. Yoga may not for everyone but walking and having freedom from pain is. Before you consider taking pills or visiting a surgeon, yoga is an option well worth a try.

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