I have a friend whose lower four vertebrae have no cushioning between them. They are bone to bone. He also suffers from sciatica down his right leg because the nerve gets pinched. He had surgery about ten years ago where they cleaned out the stuff that has grown inside his vertebrae since it was pressing on his spinal cord. His doctor says it's a question of when he'll need surgery again, not if he'll need surgery. I suggested he look into the Gokhale method since it's my impression it could be helpful for him. But I would like for him to get a more educated opinion before he makes any decision about this. Do you think Gokhale method would help him.
Becky Schaller
2 years 2 months ago
07/13/2017 - 7:53pm
I meant to save this and not send it. Below is the revised version.
I have a friend whose lower four vertebrae have no cushioning between them. They are bone to bone. He also suffers from sciatica down his right leg because the nerve gets pinched. He had surgery about ten years ago where they cleaned out the stuff that has grown inside his vertebrae since it was pressing on his spinal cord. His doctor says it's a question of when he'll need surgery again, not if he'll need surgery. I suggested he look into the Gokhale method since it's my impression it could be helpful for him. But I would like for him to get a more educated opinion before he makes any decision about this. Do you think Gokhale method would help him.
4 hours 37 min ago
08/13/2014 - 3:12pm
Becky- you are a good friend to make this inquiry! Based on your description it's not completely clear to me what the medical condition is of your friend's back. Usually if the discs are completely removed the surgeon also does a spinal fusion so that bone isn't articulating against bone. It would be helpful to contact a Gokhale Method Teacher near where he lives with a more detailed history.
There are things we teach in the Gokhale Method that help to lengthen the spine and take pressure off the spaces between the vertebrae. Even if there were no discs this would help to lessen the bone on bone rubbing between the vertebrae. There is certainly nothing that we teach that would do him any harm so I would suggest he meet with a teacher for a consultation where he/she could show him a few techniques that will ease his back pain and sciatica. Sciatica often is caused by the positioning of the pelvis affecting the L5-S1 disc space. This would also be something to look at.
Cynthia Rose
Gokhale Method Tecaher
2 years 2 months ago
07/13/2017 - 7:53pm
Cynthia, thank you for your reply. My friend was offered a spinal fusion but declined because he didn't want the extra pressure on the vertebrae above and below. He is now more interested and I loaned my dvd to him. I'm hoping he'll contact a teacher, or at least start some of the exercises. Since we live in Oklahoma City, there are not any teachers near here. But at least he can have an initial consultation through Skype. This is such a low cost non-invasive method, it's hard for me to understand why more people don't get easily excited about it.
Becky
4 years 11 months ago
07/16/2018 - 3:52pm
Back Pain, Just flashback my these days when I was suffering from this unbearable disease, it makes you feel irritable and mentally tired as doctors diagnose and reviews causes of back pain found it may be due to excessive sitting, sitting in front of your smartphone or computer for a long time, Sitting on the chair and standing in bad posturing for a long time, apart from this, your lifestyle is also largely responsible for increasing the problem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_pain/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/172943.php
As per my experience with this problem alexander exercise techniques and little changes in your lifestyle make your life happy Right way to do apply these techniques and support your back like http://ergonomictrends.com/alexander-technique-exercises-posture-back-pain
If you don’t care and take lightly it becomes a bigger problem in the future. Let me know your review if need more details here! Thanks
22 min 31 sec ago
09/10/2008 - 8:36pm
There are many useful techniques. GThe crowdsourcing website healthoutcome.org has rankings for various of these based on 1000's of ratings. Scroll down to the lower part of the list for less well-known techniques to find us as well as other techniques to tweak the way you use your body. Here is the link to the lower back pain section: https://www.healthoutcome.org/condition/43/lower-back-pain-treatment