Back Problem

[Newbie]

Hey guys,

depressing news. I suffer from chronic back pain. Have for years now. After six months of qigong (chi kung) i was able to take up kendo and if I do it every or nearly every day it keeps my back under control enough to do iaido, jodo and kendo as long as I'm careful with lifting stuff, standing up for a long time, etc.

However since I started jodo the fact that I'm very stiff on my left side (as Marcus can attest) has become very obvious and I'm not very honmi(sp?) on either side but the left I'm almost facing centre. Sempai says this isn't a problem at the moment but unless I can get more flexibility in my back will never pass my shodan. That test is a good, long while off but this isn't a problem I can fix over night or in a couple months, even.

Any suggestions? I've thought about further qigong, or more advanced qigong but am fairly sure the institute I did the original Taiji Chi Kung Shibashi in 18 Forms can't offer me much more in this area. Thinking about trying a... less mainstream qigong teacher or something. I'm at a loss. I love jodo and don't want to hit a brick wall cos of my back.

[shred_lord]

Have you tried pilates, a friend of mine who has an extraordinary bad back (ie worse than yours if you are able to do kendo) finds the it helps give her something approaching normal mobility. Probably because it strengthens the muscles that help support the back as well as increasing flexiblity....

....Or something.

It seems to spend a lot of of time teaching you proper spinal posture.

Just a thought.

[MikeW]

Have you tried a specialist to see what the actual cause of the back pain is? Typically it's a nerve problem either due to an enlarged disc or some inflammatory problem that irritates a nerve process.

[mark]

I assume that you saw a 1) normal doctor, 2) gone to a sports specialist, had 3) physiotherapy for 6 or so months, had a 4) chiropractor and 5)accupuncture specialists to their thing, and did the 6) ex-rays and 7) MRI's to make sure that everything is in the right place and 8) regularly take anti-inflamatories ... You did all of that and you are still stiff and in pain ... I would tend to try one of the very soft stretching traditional forms of yoga (Hatha is one), Tai Chi, or soft a stretch class at your local YMCA. I just bought the stretching handbook/ video from Brad Walker (you can find it on the web) and it looks pretty good.
I have been trying to fix a bad back (squash injury) now for quite a while and find that long (very) slow stretches of the back and related muscle chains (1 hr per day) help a lot. I also find that if I also strenghten the anxillary muscles (core+) they releive the amount of work my back muscles has to do and reduce back stress and pain.

[Newbie]

Hey, thanks Mark & Mike but yeah. For two years it was undiagnosed and put down as "unidentified chronic pain" cos most of the time the pain was referred. I had MRIs, CATs, saw every kind of specialist you can think of and whilst on the waiting list for the Chronic Pain Clinic (when they've given up trying to find out what it is) out of desperation my doctor referred me to physio on the off chance. The physio found that it was my lower back. He didn't however actually tell me what it was in my lower back, except I think in passing the first time I saw him. I was going to physio three times a week for about six months and it did nothing.

My brother told me in no uncertain terms to do chi kung. So I took chi kung and tai chi and do them every morning. My back is only a little better for jodo if I do chi kung right before I train, but not much and it takes about half an hour.

I know a dozen and one back excersises. The physio (not the same one as I saw years ago for my back) who is treating my strained trapezius uses acupuncture. I might ask him. The reason I'd like to find out if perhaps some more comprehensive qigong or something will help is cost. Once I've learnt it I can do it on my own in the morning whereas with physio, accupuncture/pressure or chiro I'm paying all the time and my funds are limited.

I think the problem might be inflammatory cos if I really hurt it lifting something and I either ice my lower back and/or lie flat on my back with a rolled up pair of jeans or towel under the lower back it will usually ebb off enough to sleep or allow me to move. But then I'm certain the original physio said something about two of my discs.

From what I know qigong is better for this kind of thing than tai chi but tai chi does help to some extent so that's why I try to do both every morning. I prolly wont be able to do anything till February after the nationals cos at the moment all my funds are tied up in getting there and with Christmas but I'd like to have everything researched and ready to go.

Marcus, can you PM me with the details of your uncle? I might see if he can help.

[Marcus_P]

Done. I just posted you the website, which has contact details on it.

[Alison2805]

Aawww, Newbie, that sucks!! It seems like you were doing so well for a while there. My brother has a very bad back and he also found pilates to be fabulous.

Good luck, I hope you find somethig that fixes it for you.

[Fudo-Shin]

Hi Newbie...have you ever tried to just harden up??.......just joking......

I get really bad knees sometimes from work. I find that when my bones are playing up that glucosamine (strong ones like 1000mg) actually helps. I think my problem has actually been inflammatory too. Just a thought.

But hey....I feel ya.....there is nothing worse than a bad back.

PS...I think girls in general don't drink enough milk. It's great stuff. And will save you alot of pain later in life.

Hope your Back gets better soon.

[Aegean Warrior]

Bad Back equates to Bad News. My friend, you better look after that back before engaing in any type of sport becaue it could make things worse. I can recommend some physical therapy, stretching, CAT scans, epidermal shots etc... You nee to identify the severity of the problem first. Then you could adress it appropriately before you engage in any type of strenuous activities.

[Newbie]

physical therapy, stretching, CAT scans

Read above. All done. (but thanks :) )

I find that when my bones are playing up that glucosamine

I was taking glucosamine for my hand when they thought I had athritis but no dice.

PS...I think girls in general don't drink enough milk. It's great stuff. And will save you alot of pain later in life.

Not me. I get calcium crystals from too much milk.

Thanks Marcus. Will chase that up.

[satsumaruma]

Have you tried cutting out the fags? ( that's cigarettes to the Americans)

[Newbie]

Quitting one thing or another doesn't help. Hey, you quit growing hair and it didn't help you.

[Newbie]

Forget the back - my shoulder's flared up again. Ten weeks till Hobart and I couldn't train tonight. Ice, drugs, massage, Flexall. No dice, still sore. Just when I was really beginning to make progress in iai as well as jo.

Crap. :(

[satsumaruma]

Quitting one thing or another doesn't help. Hey, you quit growing hair and it didn't help you.


oooh that is just mean. Anyway hair loss in men is a sign of virilty.:rolleyes:

If I say it often enough I will start to believe it.

[Newbie]

Well you do have a plethora of younglings so that's gotta count as some evidence.

[satsumaruma]

Shhhhhh,

there may be some that the Child Support Agency don't know about yet.....:scared:

[Andy_Watson]

Lee

If that's true about virility then I wonder how you don't get girls pregnant by looking at them.

If it's any consolation, I seem to be getting more virile every day...

[satsumaruma]

Barsteward.


I'll give you a monkey or a pony or a flamingo or some other animal that you southerners always talk about just to keep shtum.

Anyway at my height Its a wonder I can reach:down:

[Newbie]

You guys are odd.


Marcus - success :)

[satsumaruma]

Don't be ricki-doodalous

There are two of us so we must be even. One or three or five etc would be odd.:ko: :ko:

[Marcus_P]

Cool, what'd he say?

[Newbie]

That the old institute was a con (i already knew that) and call him mid-jan to discuss classes and they'll fix the problem.

That easy! YAY!! :D :D considering how the train ride made it flare up today, i'm doubly happy!

[Marcus_P]

rofl, you will have to tell me how it goes... since I'm not there, I never really had the opportunity to train with him properly, and the chances I did have were when I was younger so not really interest then... though I want to train now!

[bobdonny]

Newbie with what you are describing, i would actually not worry about your shodan... if you enjoy kendo/jodo just continue, eventually you will get it and you will sort your back. I would advise paitience, you seem quite competant at following up the medical aspect.

[Newbie]

if you enjoy kendo/jodo just continue, eventually you will get it and you will sort your back.

Thanks for the sentiment but not really. Well, kendo's fine cos it's linear. That's why the dumbed down easy peasy chi kung i originally did was enough. However jodo is very different and often will cause me discomfort if not pain and I'm incredibly stiff on one side. Marcus can attest to this. Two weeks before my grading I wasn't honmi enough and my sempai very gently took my shoulders and moved them slowly around to where they should be. He didn't use force or fast jerky movements. I couldn't train for a week. I just can't get honmi enough. I find so far that kaeshi tsuki and gyakute tsuki the hardest. I simply can't do a lot of jodo properly at this point in time.

I'm not so much worrying about my shodan now (my sankyu grading is enough to worry about at the moment) but like I said originally, don't want to realise two months before I want to take shodan that I need to do something about my back.

I'm really looking forward to some real chi kung training anyway :)

[kartoffelngeist]

[...]Two weeks before my grading I wasn't honmi enough and my sempai very gently took my shoulders and moved them slowly around to where they should be. He didn't use force or fast jerky movements. I couldn't train for a week. I just can't get honmi enough. [...]


Apologies for lowering the tone of the conversation and adding nothing to it, but I read honmi as horny. It changes the meaning completely...

Sorry.

I'm looking forward to hearing how the chi kung goes though. Hope it helps.

[Newbie]

*sigh* What is it recently with people suggesting my posts be read with certain words changed around.

Damn you Sats. You started a trend.

Did very light iai training tonight. Am about to flexall my shoulder, ice my back and whimper.

This does not bode well.