A Permanent Cure for a Bad Back

In the Fall of 1993, I enrolled in my first tai chi course. We were two weeks from the end of the course, and I experienced the familiar twinge in the right side of my lower back indicating a prolonged back spasm was on its way.

For more than 25 years, I had experienced back spasms, about six times a year, sometimes disabling me entirely – missing work and the like, and always hunching me over to the right for weeks. I tried everything -- physical therapy, bad back exercises, manipulation, cold packs, hot packs. I was disciplined doing several back exercises daily. In spite of it all, the bad back persisted. The low point was a sea kayaking trip in which I had to have a power boat take me back. The bad back was a miserable fact of life.

Returning to the back twinge which signaled a new back incident -- it occurred while I was taking a shower early in the AM. I recalled from a tai chi workshop that a danyu, a warmup and strengthening exercise externally resembling a squat, was good for the back.

I parked myself in at the top of the stairs using using the railing to guide my descent. I did a series of danyus followed by a walk around the block. I repeated this sequence over the next seven hours -- resting as needed. It was my project for the day.

By mid-afternoon, I felt the back spasm break. I was left with a residual pain from the hours of spasming, but I was not hunched over. The twinge and the back spasm were broken.

I have not had a back incident of any kind since. I have been completely free of back pain for almost 12 years. I would continue with tai chi for no other reason. I was drawn to tai chi but breaking the back spasm was the hook that convinced me that tai chi was to be a lifelong practice. It was to be the first of many gifts I have experienced in the practice.