Ha!
There is nothing worse than a reformed whatever -- smoker, drinker, wheat-eater, reprobate -- and there is nothing better than when a reformer finally converts someone.
Like my husband.
I don't know how many people I've told about the trick to fix a bad back, if the problem is a slipped disc, or even over-stretched muscles. It's principle of the Mckenzie method: your back has a natural curve in it and it's not the curve forward. If a back is to stay healthy, it must arch. The simplest way to achieve relief from back pain is to lie on your stomach with your arms down at your sides and relax for 2 to 3 minutes. That's it; just relax. But it has to be a relaxation; those muscles must release tension and ease. And this is done every two hours.
So last week, my husband hurt his back while splitting wood out back. It was a bad one and I recognized the way he was walking: slipped disc. As always when he complains about a sore back, I tell him to lie on his stomach. As always, he refuses.
Until I finally said on Saturday night: "Since my back surgery three years ago, have I relapsed?"
That seemed to be the argument that got through to him because on Sunday morning, he asked me, rather sheepishly, "So I lie on my stomach, right? What do I do with my arms?"
Breakthrough!
It's such a simple thing to do - lie down and relax for two minutes - but it's amazing the resistance I get from people who complain of back pain. As if people like to be crippled and miserable.
"Oh, it hurts to lie on my stomach," one woman who I know has bulging discs told me immediately. It hurt Dwayne to get down on the floor but once he was there, he was fine. Every two hours, there he was, lying on a yoga mat in the living room, and by Monday, he was in the tractor tilling up a new pumpkin patch -- and coming inside every so often to lie on his stomach.
Three years ago, I fixed bulging discs with this technique (the herniated disc was too bad to be fully corrected this way, I think - but maybe I was hurting it doing physio) and I continue to use it when I recognize symptoms of strain in my back. While waiting for surgery, I promised my back I would never hurt it again and I intend on keeping that promise. That means the McKenzie Method (Google it) and lots of yoga back bends.
Believe me.