How I cured my bad back in a day
Somebody told me how to do this years ago and it worked. If you have been plagued with lower back pain, you might like to try it.
The first thing to say is that this is going to take you a whole day – so pick a day when you have nothing else to do (or, if you’re in that much pain, just put off everything else).
All you will need is a carpeted floor, or something comfortable to lie on like a yoga mat (the sofa or your bed won’t do).
First lie on you front with your face on your hands.
Lift your head, count to ten and put it back.
If this is painful, put your head back sooner than ten seconds. Wait, rest and try again. The length of time you rest depends on how you feel, if you think you’re ready to try again, then do so. The most important thing to remember is that as soon as something begins to hurt, stop doing it and rest. You might even have a little sleep.
When you find yourself able to lift your head easily, move your hands under your shoulders and lift the front part of your body just a little bit off the floor. Hold it for ten seconds if you can and then lower yourself and relax.
When you feel able to repeat this, do so.
Rest between the exercises… maybe have another little sleep…
Now try raising yourself further… and further…
When you feel you have made some progress, you might like to get up and have another go in half an hour. If it is too painful to get up, stay on the floor, relax (have another little sleep!)
As you progress, you will find yourself able to raise your shoulders higher and higher. The thing to remember is to keep your hips on the floor. What you are doing is training your lower spine to bend.
Keep doing this again and again and again.
Remember: As soon as you feel any pain, return to the floor and relax (have another little sleep…)
How many times you do this depends on you but the more you can repeat it, the sooner your back will be back to normal – after all, you are heartily fed up with having a bad back and you don’t have anything else that you need to do today. So, keep repeating the exercises.
By the end of the day, you will be able to straighten your arms and arch your neck so that you are looking up at the ceiling – and I bet you couldn’t do that when you started.
When you reach this stage, go out for a walk. Stand up straight, keep your head up. Keep moving.
The next day, you may get up feeling stiff and say that this was all a waste of time. Don’t worry, just start from the beginning again – only this time, it’s not going to take you a whole day. Within half an hour, you will be back to full stretch.
Once your spine has returned to its normal flexibility, you should only need to do these exercises again if the pain returns – but if you take regular exercise, stand up straight and are careful how you lift heavy objects, it shouldn’t.
Now wasn’t that cheaper than visiting a chiropractor?
If you find it works, I suggest you return to this blog and read the Good Health page.
Update January 2019
I have started learning Yoga from Desmond Dunne’s 1961 classic Yoga Made Easy – and discover that this exercise is, in fact, a pose called The Cobra (Bhujangasana):
“An exercise to make the spine amazingly supple and flexible, at the same time it revitalises abdominal muscles. Kidney, liver and pancreas are stimulated so that appetite improves and bodily heat increases. This asana is of great value to persons who do a great deal of stooping – sedentary workers and women overburdened with housework – and all who suffer from habitual backache.
“Caution: If your spine is stiff, proceed cautiously. Remember that whereas a smooth, slow stretch will benefit you, a wrench may be painful or even harmful.”
– There you are. I said I’d learned it from someone else.