One Man's Experience with Alternate Therapies
Introduction. I'm 63, quite tall and thin, 6'7" and 185 pounds--the most I've ever weighed is 195. In high school, I weighed about 140. I am small boned, and have always had low back problems as far back as I can remember. I also had a serious bicycle accident when I was ten which crushed my jaw and required extensive surgery for a number of years. Parts of three ribs were removed from my right side and used in rebuilding my jaw. My right side has always been weak due to this surgery. The accident also stopped my interest in sports as I was petrified of being hit in the face. This is not to say that I did no exercise at all. I played golf and worked on the family farm until I graduated from college.
I was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 1991. Additionally, I have 50% of disk L5 missing, and as a result, I would often get sciatica in both legs and feet (fortunately not both areas at the same time). I'm sure the osteoporosis contributed to the disk problem, and the poor physical condition I have been in for years related to the pinched nerves. I have had no compression fractures that I know of, but my back is very sensitive to compression loads. If I carry something heavy in one hand, but not the other (such as luggage), I will soon have low back pain. Likewise, I have to be very careful taking things out of the trunk, or carrying any kind of a load (say over 50 pounds) more than thirty or forty feet. Since the diagnosis of osteoporosis, I have been taking testosterone shots, calcium supplements, Fosamax, and am on an exercise regimen.
Over the years, I tried different types of exercise: jogging, swimming, weight lifting, etc., but would invariably hurt my back by over doing. I played golf off and on for years, but don't now due to concern about hurting my back again. There is too much uncontrolled twisting when I golf. I ruptured a disk in my back playing tennis in about 1969. I ended up in a steel-braced corset for six months, was on pain medication and had finally arranged to have a back operation.
Therapies and therapists I have tried. I decided to try one last option before surgery. I saw a chiropractor (who I just picked out of the phone book) and he said if I followed his regimen he would have me playing golf again in six months (that was during one of my "on" times in golf). I saw him three times a week for about six weeks, then twice weekly for awhile. Then I was transferred to Portland, OR and started seeing an osteopath. After a year, I moved back to San Francisco and continued seeing an osteopath and a chiropractor on pretty much a weekly basis. The chiropractor was correct as I started golfing again, but carefully. I was never a particularly good golfer (it was a good day when I broke 100), and being afraid of re-injuring my lower back did not help my game. Although I'm probably in better physical condition now that I've been in forty years, I've never taken up the game again.
In 1975, I was introduced to Rolfing, which really put me on track to physical improvement. At the time, I had a pronounced "S" curve to my lower back which caused the continual pinching of the nerve. Rolfing is a method of improving posture by reorienting muscles and ligaments. It's a whole body treatment, is not particularly cheap, and some treatments can be quite painful. But, for me, the pain and cost are well worth it. I continue to see a Rolfer three to four times a year for a tune-up as gravity, aging, etc., take their toll. If I stopped this treatment, I have no doubt I would be having severe lower back pain within a year. After Rolfing corrected my posture, much of the problem went away. However, the stomach and back muscles were weak so it was easy to continue to hurt myself.
After the good results from Rolfing, I started exploring other alternate healing methods. Some seemed to be effective and others not. I studied Reiki, which is an energy balancing system. Then I stumbled onto a Japanese therapy called Jin Shin Jyutsu, another energy healing system that uses many of the same meridians as acupuncture. This really worked! I've taken a number of classes in this as I thought at one time that I would like to be an practitioner myself.
What I have found regarding these different alternative therapies is that they take time to work. It's not like taking a pill and seeing results within a few hours. These treatments have a cumulative effect, and generally are needed for a long period of time. But like western medicine, much of what they do is suppress symptoms, rather than cure. But if the pain goes away and/or the patient feels better, what difference does it make?
I also do filtered light therapy. This was developed in the 1920s in the U.S. Not widely known, but again, very effective for certain types of illness, and this can be done by yourself. If interested, buy the book, "Let There Be Light" by Darius Dinshah. This is a self-help book with instructions on how to build a light generator. I think it may be effective for osteoporosis, although I've never used it for that purpose. I'm convinced that I saved my eyesight with this therapy. It also is very effective for migraine headaches, various skin ailments, etc. Read the book.
About 5 years ago, my wife and I had a free physical abilities test done and were distressed at what poor shape we were in. We hired a personal trainer to come to the house once a week for several months (proved to be cheaper than joining a health club). I still do these exercises once a week, but my wife dropped out as she is more interested in aerobics. Then I bought the VCR tape "Yoga for the Young at Heart," which we started doing weekly. This is a good introduction to yoga for seniors. If you try this or any yoga exercise tape, be very careful to warm up first, and be very careful with the poses the first few times. Don't try to keep up with the instructor or you'll regret it! After about a year of the taped yoga, I signed up for the lyengar yoga class which I am still doing. Lyengar is a type of yoga, just as hatha is a type. Note that head or hand stands could elevate intraocular pressure which could cause serious damage to someone with glaucoma. So, if you have glaucoma, get clearance from your ophthalmologist before starting yoga, or, if you haven't been checked for glaucoma, do so before taking yoga.
Many of the yoga poses use hand, head and shoulder stands. I only do the shoulder stand as I am afraid of falling and injuring my neck or back with the head stand, and I don't have the physical strength to do the hand stands. I think with any exercise program, the individual has to be brave enough to refuse to do those things that he feels might be detrimental. Don't be macho! It took me a year to work up the courage to try a shoulder stand, but now I enjoy them. I have done a head stand a couple of times, but I'm still too anxious to do them routinely because I injured my neck from a whiplash injury about seven years ago. I can also do most of the yoga twists now, which had earlier refused to do.
There are many yoga instructors around and various types of yoga that are taught. I would urge anyone thinking about taking up yoga to try different types, and to try to find a small class so you can get more personal help. Be sure to tell the instructor about any medical problems you have that might impact your exercise routine. Don't let age keep you back. I'm the oldest student in my class by probably twenty years or more. But, it is very gratifying to to be able to keep up with the kids.
I still see a chiropractor occasionally, maybe once every three to six months when I screw myself up twisting wrong, or working around the house. I hurt my back again yesterday moving some wood. Not very heavy, but it doesn't take much. My lower back will not stand compression loads.
How do I know that yoga is such a great help? It's true that I do many different things besides yoga, but I think yoga is so important because I was doing many of these things before I started yoga, yet the changes and improvements really started after yoga. It may also be the combination that is making yoga work well. For me, yoga is not a meditational exercise, rather it is difficult and sometimes painful. It consists of a lot of stretching and twisting, to the point where you think something will snap. But I rarely have any after effects of pain, stiffness, etc. And, I feel that the increased flexibility yoga has given me has prevented injuries when I've accidentally fallen. Additionally, although I'm 63, I feel and look 55, feeling better than I have in my life. My wife and others often tell me how good I look. Since yoga is the only change I've made in the last three years, when I began to feel better, I tend to give it much of the credit. I certainly can't, however, prove it is the sole cause of my feeling better. [Editor's note: Yoga has been shown in a recent article to be effective in retarding progression of coronary atherosclerosis in patients with severe coronary artery disease. Significantly, this was shown by way of one-year repeat coronary angiography. This was a complete program that included active group treatment with a user-friendly program consisting of yoga, control of risk factors, diet control and moderate aerobic exercise. See J Assoc Physicians India 2000 Jul;48:687-94. Manchanda SC and others, Retardation of coronary atherosclerosis with yoga lifestyle intervention. PMID: 11491594]
The idea that you should walk or exercise at least an hour a day may work for some folks, but not for me. I know I should, but I don't. My profession kept me on my feet on a daily basis, so I have no love for walking if I don't have to. Instead, I rely on yoga and group exercise programs that the city recreation department sponsors. I need to do more aerobics to get my heart rate up and I'm on the lookout for one that will work for me. For all of us, it is a matter of priorities and will power. I believe any exercise is better than no exercise. Using the stairs rather than an elevator and parking far away rather than close in are simple things to do that can help.
For me, being pain free is important and I will spend a lot of money to be free of pain. My wife on the other hand, will suffer a great deal of pain to avoid spending her money. Once again, it's all a question of priorities.
I think there are many alternative ways to better health. I've tried herbs, and until recently, could see no reason to take any but saw palmetto. I have, however, just started trying Noni after reading a long review on it by an M.D./Ph.D. He noted there has been considerable research about it working on a variety of illnesses. The results I have noticed so far are more energy and alertness, and I'm sleeping better at night. It comes in both liquid and pill form with the pills being cheaper, so I'm taking them. I've had acupuncture (good for some things, but not others), and probably four or five other methods. I like massage, but have found it to be detrimental to low back problems. I now have a chiropractor, osteopath, Rolfer and various M.D.s that I see for specific problems.
Most Americans are so brain washed, that the thought of using any practitioner that does not have an M.D. after his/her name is an anathema. A close friend recently died of cancer and he would not consider even looking into alternative methods of cancer treatment. Would he have lived longer if he had? Who knows? But he wouldn't even think about it.
Summary and conclusions. I guess my suggestion to other men that are hurting is to not be afraid to explore other health modalities. Insurance probably won't pay for most of them, but if they relieve their suffering, so what? Most are not very expensive in comparison to western medicine. For instance, my weekly yoga is $10 for a 90-minute session. Sure there are some quacks around, and some of them are M.D.s. Explore. If it doesn't work for you, try something else. All of the alternate therapies I've tried have caring, sincere therapists who aren't getting rich, believe me. Obviously, people with osteoporosis have to use good judgment based upon their degree of lost bone mineral density before embarking on any strenuous exercise regimen. They should discuss their osteoporosis with the practitioner to assure exercises or treatments will not cause fractures of weakened bones.