The human body has evolved to work best when walking, running, jumping, climbing, and basically being active. It has not evolved to sit in chairs, or lounge on sofas, yet that is what most of us do for most of the time.
According to global research, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, lower back pain effects around 1 in 10 people world wide, and its prevalence increases with age.
It is most profound in Western Europe and the United States, and back pain has been cited as being behind (reason for) more disability than any other condition.
Quite simply the book 8 Steps To A Pain Free Back by Esther Gokhale L.Ac., has been an eye-opening, life-changing book for me and countless others and so I wanted to quickly share the benefits with you and hopefully help you eradicate, or avoid any back pain you may have or are going to get.
Esther Gokhale was an acupuncturist who one day asked herself the question;
"Why do people in certain cultures, who spend all day bent over get low-to-no back problems, yet we here in the West are riddled with them?"
She went on an extensive journey finding out the answers to that question and here's what she came up with.
She discovered that pictures of the spine in Victorian era medical books, differed from modern spinal pictures. In that the older representations of our spines were more 'J' shaped as opposed to the classic 'S' shape you're probably thinking of now.
She also discovered that children have a more 'J' shaped spine and unless they live in an environment whereby they sit and watch adults sit all the time, they keep this 'J' shape till adulthood.
She also discovered that through a series of stretching 'exercises' somebody with an 'S' shaped spine can actually change the shape back to a 'J' and at the same time avoid and/or fix any problems they may have with their lower backs.
"Esther's technique for treating chronic back pain is totally unique and her research in this book really backs it up. This is a great tool for all of us."
- Billie Jean King (Winner of 20 Wimbledon tennis titles).
"The patients I have referred to Esther have, without exception, found her work to be life changing. I have employed her concepts and techniques in my practice, and I have countless patients who have benefited from her work."
- Salwan Abi Ezzi, M.D. Internal Medicine, Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
"Every year tens of thousands of patients undergo major back surgery without any benefits. By using Esther Gokhale's novel technique, many of these patients can avoid such needless and expensive medical procedures, and quickly return to a pain-free life."
- John R. Adler, M.D. Professor of Neurosurgery Stanford University Medical Clinic.
The '8 Steps' that are presented within the book are relatively simple to achieve, and if you go from step 1 to step 8 in linear order you will find it particularly easy, as they do progress in difficulty and introduce some new ways of sitting, standing, walking and lying that you will have to get used to.
Earlier in this post I used quotation marks around the word 'exercises', this is because even though you could class the 8 Steps as exercises, once you get into them, they simply become a way of life.
Below I have posted the video to 'stretch sitting', if you only do this one exercise and turn it into the way you sit down, I promise you (as much as a non-medical professional stranger on the internet can) that you will feel incredible benefits from this small lifestyle change.
I got this book after watching a Ted talk from one of Esther's students, not because I had any major back problems, but because I feel that prevention is always better than cure.
Plus the minor niggles I was getting from time to time were making me feel old and were stopping me being as active as I like to be.
I now feel like my back is 20 years younger and my posture has noticeably improved, I have regained a quarter inch in height that I had lost over the years, and I am much more body aware and am more likely to correct bad posture when I'm sitting or standing around.
I can sit in one position at my keyboard for hours without pain or strain, and best of all I have an arsenal of exercises and stretches that make me feel great!
Regardless of your age, if you live in an environment whereby sitting is the norm, then I urge you to buy this book and I promise you'll become a disciple/fanboy(or girl) just like me!
Quick intro, though she leaves some info out.
Ted Talk that introduced me to the technique
Wishing you wealth, health, and happiness!
DO YOU HAVE LOWER BACK PAIN PROBLEMS? OR PERHAPS YOU HAVE A BAD POSTURE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO CORRECT? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
