"I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that after suffering for many years from back (scoliosis) and neck (arthritis) pain, it was my good fortune to happen upon your website. I read every word, tried the movements and postures and found an immediate measure of relief from the pain that no doctor, chiropractor, physical therapist or massage therapist has been able to help (I am 56). I immediately ordered a number of your books, read them from cover to cover, gave them to my daughter and son-in-law and then ordered more for my son.
"I took your books with me to New Orleans, where I worked for 10 days as a volunteer building houses, and am happy to report the exercises and stretches allowed me to climb ladders, wield heavy loads and hammer nails without further consequence to my back and neck.
"As mentioned by most people, I found instant relief upon simply correcting the positions of my neck and back. I took the books to New Orleans with me and did most of the stretches, especially the side bending, back extension, hip and hamstring ones. I also took great care with my positioning with the construction work and lifting. "Before I found you, because I was in so much pain, I had stepped up my go-to stretching routine gleaned from years of aerobics and some yoga, which always included toe touching with straight knees and plow and all those exercises you say not to do. I thought it was good that I could touch my toes on the floor behind my head in a plow or my palms to the floor bending forward. Ouch!
"I've also been doing many of the strength-building exercises, trying to work up from the elementary to the more difficult. It's fun stuff and it feels SO GOOD!
"Thank you for putting so much information out there for the long-suffering public! Sincerely, Marla Black"
"PS - my daughter is a triathlete and she and her husband have been doing all the bad stretching and wrong postures. Her neck and back were starting to hurt. I gave them the books and they are already onboard and feeling the difference!"
Fast Fitness - Core Hip & Body, Posture Strength & Balance
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Here is Friday Fast Fitness - training and challenging abdominal muscles to hold neutral spine. Use this, not as an exercise to "do," but to use to retrain neutral spine. Reader Mike, who did a A Whole Big Fix sent this photo to illustrate:
Hold a plank.
Lift one arm straight in front.
Figure out which is the opposite leg and lift that one. Keep straight spine
Mike writes:
"Here's some more feedback on your exercises: it seems the more planks I do with opposite arm/leg extended, the less my hip pops, so I'm doing those every morning for about 4 sets of 10 sec. holds on each side, along with the side planks. Those seem to set my posture off right for the rest of the day. I'm using my hand and wrist muscles to take weight off the bones, as you've said, and my wrists, are getting stronger.
"BTW: my daughter's badminton coach has a PhD in exercise physiology and she's also a big fan of your site."
Walk Lightly - Shock Absorption for Happier Joints
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
"Your tread must be light and sure as though your path were upon rice paper
"This rice paper is the test Fragile as the wings of the dragonfly
"Clinging as the cocoon of the silkworm When you can walk its length and leave no trace You will have learned" - Master Khan to Grasshopper in the 70's TV series Kung Fu
Walk, run, jump, and move lightly.
Movement is good for you. Muscles pulling on bones increases bone density. Vibration transmitted through the body from motion of running, dancing, jumping, and having fun is healthy, refreshing, and stimulates cell growth. A certain amount of impact from movement is necessary for health.
Banging down too hard with each step is not good for your body. It increases risk of joint pain and plantar fasciitis. I tell my students to stop jarring their joints without shock absorption when they walk and move and jump. One day, a student asked me "How?" Here are some things to try:
1. I asked the student to stomp his foot. Then I asked him to place his foot down lightly. That is how.
2. Use an analog bathroom scale. Step on heavily and see the numbers go up high. Then step on again lightly and see that the last number reached is a lower number. In sports medicine, we use force plates to measure ground forces when an athlete jumps or runs by.
3. While moving, make less noise. It doesn't mean to tip-toe. Walk and run with regular heel to toe gait, but lightly.
4. Try walking with a full-to-the-brim cup of hot coffee or any liquid. Don't tip-toe, just walk softly without spilling any.
5. Practice jumping in the air and landing softly. Bend your knees when landing. Increase the height of the jump, maintain soft landing. Work up to jumping down from increasing heights without making a sound, or much sound.
We are here working in Asia. Everywhere, we see schoolyards with kids playing sepak takraw. Modern sepak takraw is played on a court with three players on each side. Players don't use their hands to volley. They use feet, legs, shoulders, and head to keep the ball in the air, volleying back and forth. Main features of sepak takraw are acrobatic mid-air kicks to keep the ball in play, and the athleticism and speed of the players.
Sepak takraw has been played in Southeast Asia for hundreds of years. The word "sepak" is Malay for kick and "takraw" is the woven ball. In Thailand, the game is often simply called Takraw. In 1984, a Thai inventor revolutionized the sport with a synthetic takraw to replace the slower traditional rattan ball.
Takraw has roots in Malaysian, Chinese, and other national games. In Bangkok Thailand, there are wall paintings at the Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) of Hanuman, the Vanara (Monkey-like) Hindu god, playing takraw in a ring with his monkey troops. The game developed into teams competing across a court with a net, about the size of a badminton court. This modern-day version is a Southeast Asian specialty.
Thailand wins most of the gold medals at the Asian Games. Here is a motion clip of just 48 seconds of playing Takraw. Click the arrow to watch.
Here is Friday Fast Fitness - fixing painful swayback to neutral spine.
If you have lower back pain after standing, walking, or running, or feel that you need to bend forward or lift one leg to relieve lower back pain, you may stand with too large an inward curve in your lower back (hyperlordosis).
Stand with hands on hips, thumbs in back
Roll hip under so that thumbs and the back of the hip come downward (not forward)
Use the neutral spine position for normal posture.
Reader David from Belgium made us this short video of correcting overarching (hyperlordosis). At first he is standing with the front of the hip tilted forward and the upper body leaning backward. Both actions increase the lower back curve. Then he tucks the bottom of the hip under to neutral position, correcting the hyperlordosis.
Don't tighten your abs to do this. Just use them to move your lower spine out of unhealthful arching to neutral spine. Breathe.
Fixing Leg Numbness, Back Pain, Flank Pain, Knee Pain, Nerve Pain, Three Unhealthy Surgeries, Part II
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
In Part I of this post on Monday, photographer Bernie tells of fixing years of pain that doctors told him only surgery would fix, even after three surgeries. Here is a look "behind the scenes."
10 March 2005, Bernie e-mailed me:
"I've had this persistent paresthesias for 4+ years. I just learned about you yesterday. Where are your back & spine classes held. Tomorrow, I'm having lumbar myelogram & CT at (top name deleted here) Hospital. Before I consider anything else, I want to learn about your methods."
I wrote back with class information. I had two classes coming up. One was the next month. The second would be in early May and only a few blocks from where he lived. I told how we work to see change in pain right in class. I asked him to let me know the test results and that I hoped to see him in class.
20 March 2005 he wrote back:
"Thanks for asking, I never expected you to keep in touch. The myelogram and CT showed moderate central spinal stenosis at L4-L5. Severe facet joint arthropy & hypertrophy of ligamentum flaxa causing compression of the lateral recesses stenosis of L5 on both sides, kinking of L5 nerve root sleeves on both sides. I have a copy of the xray, showing the "hourglass" at L4-L5
"(name deleted) is the attending, 3-B Orthopaedics. He said the next step is surgery, by ( ), at ( ) Hosp. I asked if strengthening of my upper body would help support my spine. He said "try it" so I'll be at physical therapy next week to start.
"I have a commitment for the weekend of April 2-3 so can't attend that class, much as I'd like to. Since I live at (close to) your class at Temple CC is my best chance of attending. Cordially, Bernie Cleff"
I checked back in to make sure he was signed up for the May class and to ask what he was doing in Physical therapy. He wrote:
29March 2005 "The phys therapy that I'm getting concentrates on my core muscles. Thanks for getting in touch...very kind of you."
I wrote back saying that conventional core exercises were not the best thing. Usually they are forward bending actions that will further compress the discs, the nerves, and also do not retrain the abdominal muscles in the way they work when you go about daily life. Strengthening does not automatically support the spine. I wanted to make sure that he had my Ab Revolution book, which was then out in a training manual version. He said he had it with him for PT. I found out two years later that they had the book, but they were not using it, and were doing traditional forward bending abdominal exercises.
10 May 2005, the day after the Fix Your Own Back Pain workshop was held, Bernie wrote me,
"Hello, I did sign-up for your class at TUCC on Monday 5/9, but I was too tired to attend. On top of that, I am scheduled for spine surgery at ( ) on Wed 5/11/05, with ( ). After having 2 epidurals and physical therapy I decided to go for the surgery. My nerve that is pinched is in the shape of an hourglass (at L4- L5) and (the doctors told him) that no body position or exercise changes are going to help at this time. Both legs are numb and I am walking like a drunk. It is kind of you to keep in touch. I hope to meet you at your fall class."
Days later, Bernie had the surgery. He tells about it, and his next two years, in Part I of this story. The doctors all considered his surgery a "complete success." They said the surgery went completely according to plan, with no complications. His recovery was in line with expected results. The fact that his pain returned, was worse, and complicated by limited movement from his plates and screws and other surgical hardware not a factor to them. They felt the limited movement was beneficial and a goal of the surgery. The commonly held idea is to stop motion in the area to stop the pain.
In late October of 2007. I arrived to teach the Fix Your Own Back and Neck Pain Workshop. I had 16 people waiting for me. One was Mr. Bernie Cleff, a funny white-haired muscular man of 80, who was in much pain.
We had a fun, energetic class. One of the students was a young man from India. He sat unsmiling as I mentioned various yoga poses that can injure discs in the neck. I explained that I am not against all yoga, and studied years to become a teacher myself. He sat unsmiling. We did three specific techniques to stop the neck pain process and a beautiful smile radiated from the young man from India. He had three herniated discs in his neck from his yoga practice of the specific moves I had mentioned, together with sitting badly at a computer for his work. He already knew those yoga moves hurt his neck. He had just been worried the pain would never stop. When the pain stopped right there in class, he smiled.
Another of the students was a golf pro, who I consulted with afterward to test out my work on lower back pain and golf. More on this in Lower Back Pain and Golf.
Mr. Cleff did great in the first class. This class was done over two weeks. I gave the students things to try during the week before the second (last) class.
Oct 25 2007, he wrote me:
"Today (Thursday) is my class day at The Clay Studio, working over the wheel for 5 hours. I felt good with very little noticeable pain. Usually after walking the 5 blocks from my home to the studio both my legs would tingle badly and I would stop to rest halfway. Not today. When I told my classmates about you phoning me to ask how I was doing with your exercises & stretching, they could not get over your caring. None of us had ever had a Dr. call to check-up. You are one hellova person and I'm thankful that I've met you.
"I've had my spine problems with the pinched nerves for a long time - roughly 4-5 years - and I'm slowly getting better since you came into my life. There is no other way to say it. Thanks Jolie."
He was improved in one class, and he felt that he was "slowly" getting better. I like an empowered student who does not want to dawdle to get better. The day after the second of the two sessions, Bernie wrote:
28 Oct 2007
"Last night, I walked about 7 blocks to restaurant AQUA (great value, low cost & delicious) and back home another 7 blocks.
"Upper back extension causes no pain, lower back does. I can do plank on elbows, holding for 60 seconds now, no pain.
"If you want to make photos of a geriatric doing your things, it's OK with me. as you've seen, I'm not bashful or delicate. I will work at getting better, my daughter is getting married January 5 and I want to be able to dance with her and my wife."
Bernie went back to his doctors to ask about a small amount of remaining pain. They told him he should have more surgery and gave him prescriptions. He wrote to ask me:
"On Nov. 2 I have a follow up with the spine surgeon (same guy) and on Nov 14 a consult with a Neurologist ( ). Do you have any suggestions about a pain med FENTANYL, which was suggested by a doc at the V.A."
I wrote back that Fentanyl is a surgical grade narcotic. It is used "off-label" for back pain and there have been deaths. I asked him to tell me more about what hurt, and when, so we could stop it without any harmful medicine, and also what the neurologist said.
14 Nov 2007, he wrote:
"I had an office visit with the neurologist at ( ), he said my twisted nerve at L5 will never get better and I will always have pain."
They told him to have another spine surgery, and take Fentanyl, and he will always have pain? Then why did they put him though all that surgery?
He wrote:
"Hello, I still have some tingling in both knees...but much better than 2 weeks ago! There has always been pain in my left flank between spine & hip, never told you because the knees were my greatest problem… The lower back pain persists, but only left side. When I do the trap stretch leaning to left--puts much pressure on that pain. Leaning to the right feels like a good stretch. Any additional suggestions?"
I found that that he was still doing "their" exercises. Conventional exercises of bending forward to stretch the hamstrings are often prescribed for back pain. The assumption is that tight hamstrings have something to do with back pain. However, bending forward is one major contributor of this kind of back pain. I changed how he stretched his hamstrings to one of the ways we did in class.
He was also continuing to overarch his lower back when walking, which was a large source of the tingling pain. When he used the Trapezius stretch, he was also overarching, which makes pain when bending to that side. This kind of pain is often confused for spinal stenosis. One classic sign of stenosis is pain when bending toward one side. However, the narrowing is not true stenosis, but just overarching which narrows and pinches the area. For someone who has stenosis, not pinching the area further with overarching is frequently enough to stop pain.
What was complicating everything was his surgeries. They were considered "completely successful." The two knee replacements were "completely rehabbed" meaning he could bend his knees enough to sit in a chair. He could no longer stretch the front of his hip enough to prevent the kind of tightness that encourages standing and moving in overarched position. The back surgery put a plate in his back to prevent much movement. That meant that even small overarching movements were enough to pressure the newly immovable area. The back hurt, and the tight back and hip were compressing nerves going down both legs.
After we fixed these issues he wrote two mails:
"Jolie You hit on the spot. I will keep at it gently."
and
"Jolie, a quick note to tell you today I walked 12 blocks, stopping to stretch hamstrings.. often on steps or fireplug....as you suggested...also lunge stretch. I will dance at my daughter's wedding. Much thanks.
"There will not ever be more surgery on my body."
For the flank pain, he had been for many tests, and was even scheduled for a kidney evaluation. The muscles in the area were so tight, that I biked over to his home to do a sports medicine technique to stretch it out for him, and checked his other stretches. I went over how to stretch the front of the hip without overarching his lower back. His sweet funny wife made me lunch. We got some fun photos of things as gifts for you, of fun stretches and activities.
He wrote:
"I've had x-rays, MRI, bloodwork, surgery, injections, no Dr. had any solution. YOU HAD THE ANSWER. No wonder so many people have thanked you."
He did the work and gave me the credit. That's a good man.
Read success stories of these methods and send your own. Before asking questions, see if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and The Fitness Fixer Index. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class spaces for personal feedback. Top students may apply for certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
Fixing Leg Numbness, Back Pain, Flank Pain, Knee Pain, Nerve Pain, Three Unhealthy Surgeries, Part I
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
In this post, Bernie, an 80 year old retired photographer tells how he was signed up to take my "fix your back pain" workshop in 2005, but was convinced by his doctors that nothing but surgery would help. After "completely successful" surgery, his pain returned and worsened. He returned two years later to me. December 2007, Bernie wrote:
"I was a professional photographer for over 53 years-freelance-meaning go any place, any where- for many varied clients and I am now 80 years old and retired from photography.
"Much of the time I carried a 40-pound camera bag on my shoulder when climbing a 75 ft radio tower, walking on railroad construction sites or climbing The Great Wall in China.
"When I was at my vacation home, I climbed ladders to paint, replace cedar shingles and install new windows.
"Both my knee joints were replaced (5/93 & 6/01). Sometime in 2003 I was aware of tingling in both of my lower limbs from the knees downward. That started my medical testing with EMG’s, MRI, CT Scan and X-rays. The diagnosis was spinal stenosis caused by age-related changes in my spine. Physical therapy was started and I had an epidural, which helped for about a year. Then a second epidural lasted for only 3 months.
"I had been volunteering in an E.R. for 7 years helping patients and I had to stop as it was impossible to walk or stand on my feet because of the strong tingling in both limbs. Then I was told that spine surgery was the answer, but continue P.T. with some changes of the therapy. So, two years later, with some relief… but not enough to continue, I stopped the P.T., had an MRI scan which showed further degeneration of L4 & L5 with kinking of nerve roots. All along there was a pain in my left flank, but that was overshadowed by the strong tingling in the knees. There had been suspicion of kidney stones or liver function but x-rays & all blood work proved negative. I was hurting more in both knees.
"The spring passed at my vacation home near Barnegat Bay with much pain and with me looking at my kayak that had remained in storage. I called for surgery to be scheduled.
"The lumbar myelogram & CT was done at Pennsylvania Hospital and surgery date was set.
"On March 10,2005 I found the website of Jolie Bookspan and e-mailed her with my “story” of pain. Her class to fix back pain was going to be held soon a few blocks from where I lived. She asked me to try the class first, (it was being held a week before the schedule surgery) but I told her that both legs are numb and I am walking like a drunk, the doctors said no amount of exercise or body mechanics would fix such structural problems, and am going thru with the surgery on May 11, 2005.
"Post-op recovery was hell. The summer was hell with pain killers and sleeping pills. At the follow-up exams, I was told “the surgery went well, no infection, you’ll be better in 6 to 8 months”. The laminectomy used a metal plate & 4 screws and a bone graft from my hip for the fusion of L4 & L5. The pain in my left flank remained throughout 77 physical therapy treatments. The surgeon prescribed Elavil and when I took it, I felt like a zombie. After I told him, I was told to try a half tablet. That made me feel like a half-zombie.
"No doctor had a solution except “try Tylenol, Advil, Fentanyl, and more”…a consult with a neurologist said that my twisted nerve would never get better. (So why all the surgery?) The pain in my left flank remained.
"Then I took Jolie's class on October 20, 2007 and she had the answer. My left flank pain was not a medical condition (I was put through every test including kidney function), but a muscle in spasm. I was doing the wrong exercises that I had learned in PT and they were making it worse. She taught me to do the exercises the correct way as shown in her books and articles in her websites.
"Five days later I reported to Jolie that I had been working at The Clay Studio, throwing clay on a wheel making pottery for 4 hours and felt good. Usually after walking the 5 blocks from my home to the studio both legs would tingle badly and I had to stop halfway to rest. Not today. When I told my classmates about you phoning me to ask how I was doing with your exercises & stretching, they could not get over your caring. None of us had ever had a Dr. call to checkup. You are one hellova person and I’m thankful that I’ve met you.
"I’ve had my back problems with the muscle spasm and damaged nerve for a long time…roughly 4-5 years…and I’m getting better since you came into my life. There is no other way to say it. Thanks Dr. Jolie for your passion for helping others.
"On your questionnaire in the first class I wrote that I wanted to be able to dance with my daughter at her wedding in January 2008. You have made it happen for me.
The International Academy Of Functional Sports Medicine was formed to provide:
Evidence-based education in functional physical medicine, training, sports medicine including diving medicine, and rehabilitation,
Internationally attended sports medicine congresses,
Certifications for physicians, allied health, physical therapists, fitness instructors, massage professionals, and the public,
Fellow advancement opportunities for physicians and researchers.
We are non-sectarian and dedicated to peace and health of all. We accept no advertising from unhealthful "health and sports" products. Part of course tuitions go to medical research, charity, and elderly help.
We are holding a contest to design the Academy logo. Winning logo will be seen internationally with credit to the designer. Logo designs should be simple, incorporate the concepts of brains and functional strength. Other concepts and ideas welcome.
If you are interested to help through your logo design submission, or other good ideas and talents, or be part of this organization, let me know. Be prepared to have fun and use your brain. To see how, the new Academy web site is www.DrBookspan.com/Academy.
Use in place of milk in most recipes, desserts, in coffee or tea.
For almond milk:
Soak a cup of raw almonds for several hours until soft. Four hours is a good start.
Use a blender or other mixer to blend softened almonds with several (about 4) cups of clean water until you like the consistency.
Add optional flavors that you like - cinnamon, vanilla, unsweetened undutched cocoa, nutmeg, small fresh piece of ginger root, fresh berries, and others.
For rice milk, throw cooked rice in a blender or bowl and mash with water until the consistency you want. Flavor as above.
Don't slouch your neck forward as in the right-hand person in the second photo above. Stand straight, pictured in Fast Fitness - Homemade Sports Food.
--- Read success stories and send your own. See if your answers are already here - click Fitness Fixer labels, links, archives, andIndex. Subscribe free - updates via e-mail or RSS, upper right. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class space for personal feedback. Top students may earn certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
Fitness Fixer is one of many medical weblogs (blogs). Each year a competition collects nominations, then opens to voting for awards.
The Fitness Fixer was nominated for three categories by readers and accepted as finalist by the competition sponsors for two:
Best Medical Blog
Best Clinical Sciences Blog
The semi-finalists were announced earlier this week. Fitness Fixer is not in the voting. Readers, thank you for making life happy and fit. You are already my award.
As you read this, we will have been on several days of flights and trains.
Sitting for long periods does not have to be uncomfortable, whether at the desk, on a flight, when driving. Most lists of instructions for sitting without hurting your back tell you to sit in exact ways at exact angles. This is not needed. Instead, it's better to understand the concepts of how and why strain and injury occur when sitting. Then you can sit in healthy ways that are comfortable, easy, and healthy.
Commercial airline, bus, and train seats often have a concave seat back, encouraging prolonged, enforced rounding. So do many car seat backs, even those saying they have lumbar support.
If your seat back is too concave, pad the space with a small cushion.
Use a pad about the size of your own forearm.
Place the pad in the small inward curve of your lower back.
Don't remain sitting rounding forward against the lumbar pad out of habit. A lumbar roll will not make you sit right.
Lean your upper back against the chair. Don't press your lower back against the pad.
If your lumbar roll hurts, it is not right. It should not be a hard material that hurts you. See if you have it positioned in the right place.
At a desk, move your seat in closer so that you do not round or lean forward to reach or see the computer.
If the seat is very concave, you may need two pillows, one for the small inward curve of your low back, and the second above that one for your upper back, in the space still left by the rounded seat. The upper back has a small outward curve, however sitting with a large outward curve creates upper back pain.
Get up frequently to move. Future Fitness Fixer articles will cover more about lumbar roll use and misuse.
As you read this, we have been traveling for work and are again on several days of flights back to Asia, with a few errands on the way. For the next two months in Asia, I will check in and post from Internet cafes as we make our way through work and travel on overnight trains and ferries. Here is the link to the post and photos from last year on our way back.
I won't have access to Internet or e-mail for the next week. If you have questions, I won't be able to receive them until after that. Check for posts already here on Fitness Fixer. The post New Year's Resolutions Made Easy gave a list of labels that access all posts with each topic. I drafted a post on long sitting that Healthline staffer Jerry will post for you on Wednesday, thank you Jerry.
If you send photos, send small jpgs so that my e-mail does not fill, and so that I can directly upload them without finding a graphics program to resize them for posts.
Later this month, at the full moon, we hope to be learning more about wound healing at the Thaipusam. Then back to the north to the Muay Thai Monks on Horseback, and training at several places in Thai Boxing.
On our travels through Thailand we hope to see our friends, including an eagle who adopted me.
These ladies are in their 80's and 90's. Last year we all went to the King of Thailand's flower exposition. They wore their best clothes. When friends arrived with their truck, the ladies easily climbed up the tailgate over the side of the truck bed. I thought Paul and I should ride outside and let them sit inside. The daughter took my arm and said, "No. She stronger dan yooou!" They explained that the Grandmothers had sat outside all their lives, and walked before they had rides.
We will stay for some time at a school that has become a home to us. The cook there, named Ahn, escaped from desperate conditions in Myanmar (Burma). Earning a few dollars a day in Thailand, working long days without time off, is riches by comparison. One year I got her a children's ABC book to learn to read English. I was thrilled when she took the arm of another Burmese helper and sat with the book, writing in page after page. She worked on it for days. She proudly presented it to me - translated all in Burmese. She thought I wanted to learn Burmese and spent her only free time to do this as a present for me.
A few years ago, before leaving the US for Asia, some of my students asked if they could donate to help her. About 150 students enthusiastically agreed. They signed a card, that we translated into Burmese. They all put money in a hat, totaling strangely, only about $50. I matched it to make a $100 gift. This is more than a month's salary for Ahn. We could give her much, put her niece through school, with so little.
I put it in a drab little purse and wrapped it as a present. Ahn graciously received the gift of what she thought was an ugly cheap bag. She smiled and thanked us and bowed low. I told her, "Look inside later." The next year, we found that she donated the entire amount to the temple to ask for blessings - for us.
At the same school, the Grandmother there is a feisty funny lady. We came to love her quickly and look forward to seeing her every year. She is in her 90's. I am not sure exactly, but maybe more than 95. She loves to joke and tease. In the photo above she is sitting at lunch that Ahn brought. She sits easily in full squat and rises easily.
Once as we were entering the school, she squatted down fully to rummage through her purse to get her keys. I tried to get her photo. When she saw me raise a camera, she bolted up and ran to a table with Western style chairs, and sat there, upright, with legs crossed and hands on her knees. She said she didn't want her photo "sitting like a farmer." Nothing I could manage to ask in my best Thai convinced her to let me show the world how strong and great she is.
Last year, while visiting them, the subject of Muay Thai came up, a martial art which is the national sport. She once ran a Muay Thai school. The next thing we knew, she was giving us lessons. I trained and competed in Muay Thai in the Netherlands and Thailand, and know that she gave us all a tough training. Then she grabbed her friend, a lady in her late 80's and sat her on the floor for a lesson too. Look how easily they bend and sit on the floor in this photo.
Here is a short movie of the last 30 seconds of her giving a lesson. Click the arrow to play. Watch how easily they both rise to a stand at the end. We hope you feel happy and inspired by her, and try it too. Last summer, she passed away, strong to the last.
Click the arrow > to play this video I took of her teaching:
-- Read success stories and send your own. See if your answers are already here - click Fitness Fixer labels, links, archives, andIndex. Subscribe free - "updates via e-mail" upper right. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class space for personal feedback. Top students may earn certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books. ---
"By the way, I'm still doing well and have been referring many people to your website. In general, I've had much less tension in the shoulders and neck and for the first time in decades, feel like neck stiffness does not have to be chronic. One very useful suggestion you gave was to start observing others to see how problems can begin/continue to manifest themselves in real life. I actually feel bad for them as I witness them creating all of those problems. Thanks again - I will continue to be a testament to the great healing work you do. Rich Tarpinian"
Rich generously provided his websites - darlarich.com and www.myspace.com/darlarichjazz offering, "If someone wishes to ask me a question about my new found wisdom, they'll have an email address."
Reader Dennis, Olympic medalist in wrestling, says he notices his shadow for posture reminders when biking. His inspiring story of fixing injuries and improving training to Olympic levels will be posted (Dennis, get your photos finished :-)
Thank you Dr. Bongi, for hosting Grand Rounds on New Years Day on his site Other things amanzi. Bongi is a surgeon in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Hi chose my post Grate Christmas as one of the best medical posts of the week, saying, "jolie bookspan challenges us to extend the spirit of christmas in more than one way."
full squat for chores with feet facing the same direction as knees, and both heels down
A Thai villager sits straight, getting nice hip stretch, and keeps ankles straight - see Unhealthy Yoga Ankles
Our friend MomPon is relative to the abbot of the Muay Thai Monks on Horseback near the border of Myanmar (Burma). We stayed with her during the time we spent at the monastery. She sits straight and comfortably in full squat to get things for dinner from her garden, then to wash dishes in her kitchen. We do the same when we help. She stands straight with chin in to reach overhead to get tamarind fruit from her tree, see - Change Daily Reaching to Get Ab Exercise and Stop Back and Shoulder Pain.
Our friends, the elder Thai ladies, sit straight while they watch a parade - Healthy Sitting
A villager takes his children for a fun ride, while sitting straight. See how a reader fixed upper body pain from biking in Freed From Pain, He Rides Again
Sitting straight to wash the kids.
I gave these villagers soap bubbles for their baby. They played for hours. Enjoy life, laugh, and share good times.
"I took your books with me to New Orleans, where I worked for 10 days as a volunteer building houses, and am happy to report the exercises and stretches allowed me to climb ladders, wield heavy loads and hammer nails without further consequence to my back and neck.
