Back pain: try postural changes

Alert readers (my family) informed me about an NPR program that featured an acupuncturist, Esther Gokhale from Palo Alto, who has, she maintains, found a solution for pack pain. She herself had suffered from such pain and had traveled around the world studying back pain in many cultures. She found that many indigenous people, such as the Ubong tribes in Borneo have no back pain.  She also found that these people and others like them have straighter spines than we do. Their major spinal curve is the one at the base of their spines (a J shape), while our spines have an S shape--with an additional curve further up. Watching them move, she contends that their straighter spines account for the regal way in which they move and hold themselves. 

She has worked out a series of posture-improving exercises that have apparently helped a lot of people (including Joan Baez!). Rather than trying to describe them here, I've found that it's really best to check out her many videos, one of which is a TED talk. Just Google Gokhale and you'll find plenty of them.

                          

I attended one workshop locally (she has instructed others in her approach) and am trying some of the new postures. For one thing, you have to let your butt stick out a little, which shifts your weight a bit and makes for the J curve. I'm also trying to change my walk by using my glute muscles and propelling myself from my back foot. It's too early to tell, but I seem to be having less joint pain. 

Next week: Back pain: a mind over matter approach

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