Next Workshops on Healthier Stretching and Fixing Neck and Back Pain
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
- "Fix Your Own Back Pain - Medical Breakthroughs in Non-Surgical Treatment" will be given at two locations, one in downtown (center city) Philadelphia, and one in a northern suburb.
- Stretching Smarter Stretching Healthier will be given at the suburban location along with the fix pain workshop.
The "Fix Your Own Back Pain" workshop in Center City Philadelphia is one class divided over two sessions. It will be held at Temple Center City Campus on two Saturdays, March 29 and April 5, 2008, 9 am-11:30 am.
Saturday April 12, 2008, I will run both workshops in one jam-packed Saturday at the Ambler/Ft.Washington Pennsylvania campus of Temple University. You can learn how to fix your pain from 9 am-2 pm, then continue on with the stretching workshop from 2:30-4:30 pm, the same day. For this big one day double workshop, we already have two people registered from India, two from England, and more from California, Massachusetts, and several of the United States.
In the Fix Pain workshop, I show how to stop the causes of the pain, not just do a bunch of exercises or treatments for symptoms. We practice how to fix the source of neck pain, upper and lower back pain, certain hip pain, disc herniation or bulging, impingement, sciatica, SI joint pain, and more. The workshops are suitable for the out-of-shape as well as the athlete. Wear comfortable ordinary clothing. If you have to change your clothes to fix pain, how are you supposed to have an ongoing normal life without pain?
Classes are cheaper (and safer) than your Vioxx.
Full info on my web site www.DrBookspan.com/classes.
Labels: education
11 Comments:
At Thursday, March 06, 2008 11:09:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
I am registered for the double class in Ambler on April 12, and am literally counting the hours 'till the day arrives! The only concern I have is that I've been doing the basic stretches that Dr. Bookspan recommends for neck pain, for about a week now, but am still relapsing into disabling episodes of indescribably severe pain. Is it possible I am not a candidate for the class, after all? (My Dx is severely compressed cervical vertebrae, bad bone spurs, and bulging discs.)
At Friday, March 07, 2008 2:03:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Anonymous, If you hurt, then that is why we have the class - to see why and stop the causes. If you do the techniques right, then you feel the different right away. If not, check how you are doing them (you're doing them wrong). The idea is not to "do" a stretch, but to do the point of it - my upper body techniques make it possible for you to stop the unhealthy forward-head positioning that compresses the discs. Then they can heal and the pain will stop. As soon as you do the two stretches, is your wall stand comfortable? That is the whole idea to Fixing Upper Back and Neck Pain. We cover that in class. Looking forward to seeing you and getting you feeling better right in class.
At Friday, March 07, 2008 3:20:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Thank you, Dr. Bookspan. Yes, I am probably doing something wrong, even though I have consciously tried to change my posture to match the guidelines I find here. My wall stand is not comfortable, no, even when I correct the forward-head position, and this may well be because I have spondylosis/heriated discs in both the lumbosacral and cervical areas...Moment-to-moment, the neck pain is disabling, and the lumbosacral pain is more survivable, but possibly the lower deformities are causing me to make errors in the positions/stretches designed for neck. . .That's my best guess for why my efforts at ending the forward-head position are not yet succeeding...
At Monday, March 10, 2008 5:50:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Anonymous, you have made a valuable observation - that you cannot stand or move around for life in healthful position. That means you are, instead, spending time in a bent-forward or overarched position that is often a major course of this kind of damage. If you are too tight to stand straight in the wall stand, you are going about your life in unhealthful positioning. When you are able to correctly do the things I've outlined, you will feel the difference right then. It is not a matter of straining to stand straight. That is missing the point. The point is to use the drills to restore resting muscle length so that it changes to be comfortable to be and move in healthful position. In the class we cover how to stop the positioning that is hurting.
At Tuesday, March 11, 2008 11:17:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Thank you, Dr. Bookspan...It feels like I am achieving correct posture against a wall, and without pain while doing so, but something remains off, for sure, and I can't wait to be corrected on 4/12! In meantime, my x-rays and MRI are so ominous (completely closed vertebral spaces and bone spurs) that my doctor is naturally pressing for surgical implants. . .but I'm standing firm against this, because I sense, from your writings, that my horrible upper back pain does not, in fact, come from these structural deformities, even though they are pretty severe. . .
At Tuesday, March 11, 2008 1:45:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Anonymous, your key words "and without pain while doing so" show your quick, intelligently done improvement. It will keep getting better.
You can change, to a sufficient extent, how much the vertebrae "close off" an area by standing in bent-crooked ways, and leave more room with healthful positioning, so that the area is no longer painfully compressed and can start healing. It does not mean standing still or rigidly straight.
Here is the link to my web page to prepare for class. I will be e-mailing it to everyone registered: class syllabus. It tells about class and gives free readings. Click the second reading "Fix Your Own Back Pain."
At Wednesday, March 12, 2008 9:05:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Sounds good, Dr. Bookspan. I cling to the hope you provide, even though the pain is becoming more disabling daily. Thrilled to be able to do advance readings, because I have downloaded everything practical I can find from your sites, have devoured these materials, and am still most certainly doing something wrong. I hate to be a pest, but if I have spaces so closed that the discs have actually been destroyed (I think that's what the neurologist told me), am I really salvageable? In one spot, the vertebrae have already begun to fuse, says the doctor. . .Onward to the readings, and to April 12!
At Thursday, March 13, 2008 10:00:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
"Pain more disabling daily?" Stop anything you are doing that causes that. Don't do anything from my methods that cause that. Look in a mirror to check your positioning standing sideways as you sit, stand, and bend to see if you can discover anything. To make a small joke, if your vertebrae are fusing, no need to get fusion surgery. Without joking, far worse situations have been "salvageable" in the past without surgery. In the previous comment, you mentioned "and without pain while doing so". Let's get this straightened out so you can get back to that.
At Saturday, March 15, 2008 8:32:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Dr. Bookspan, I so love your spunk! and despite my subjectively bad state, at the moment, I have a deep objective faith in your principles. The last thing I want is surgery, but when the pain hits, it escalates rapidly, as a result of which I have already become unemployed and have pretty much lost my life as I knew it. . .Anyway, I will look in the mirror and try to spot problems, but I suspect that the class will be the first time I actually understand what I'm doing wrong..Pls. forgive the forwardness, but is there a clinic associated with your work, where I could be seen prior to 4/12? I will come to the class regardless, of course, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your thoughtful replies.
At Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:15:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Anonymous, Great that you are so empowered to cut right to what will hasten recovery. I am running the same back pain workshop over two weeks in downtown Phila starting next week, Saturday March 29 and April 5 9am-11:30am. The two week format lets people have time to try things and come back with their improvements, to be checked out a second time, and to learn things at an easier pace. Call the director Kevin Wood (215) 204-6565 or e-mail him to register. Info also on my web site class page, listed in the post.
At Tuesday, March 18, 2008 7:28:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
This is a great idea, and I would definitely come sooner, for the 2-weekend format, if I were not traveling from a distant location and depending on my spouse to get me there. I will just hang in there 'till 4/12, and so deeply appreciate your attentive replies, in the interim. The hope you supply is a hugely powerful healing adjunct, but what I really love about your approach is that you aim for the real prize (:^)). . .Thanks again!
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