I am a dance freak and like to dance a lot in the company of my friends and show off my dancing skills. Last year, as I was impressing people with my twists and turns at a party, I tried to bend my back backwards in an attempt to touch the ground. I could not do so and suddenly fell to the ground. It was embarrassing and above all there was an excruciating pain in my back. I immediately sat on a chair and did not dance further. My friends dropped me home that night. Next day, as there was so much pain in my back, I visited the doctor and told him the entire incident. The doctor confirmed that the pain was due to my sudden bending for which my back was not ready. The doctor asked me to take hot fomentation and gave me some pain killer medicines. Gradually, my back pain vanished. Since then, I have never tried such ‘stunts’ without practice and training.

Till last year, I was known as an obese and unattractive girl in my peer group. My habit of eating junk food all the time and not exercising at all had made me very fat and lazy. I would not do any work unless it became highly urgent. I had become a couch potato and just used to watch TV and eat all kind of junk food available under the sun. Then one day, as I was doing some of my laundry, I felt a lot of pain in my back. From that day onwards, the pain just grew severe and more severe and it refused to go despite using all kind of painkiller ointments. Desperate to get rid of the pain, I visited my doctor. The doctor checked my weight and told me that the pain was due to excessive weight as weight was creating a lot of pressure on my back muscles. He told me that it was imperative for me to lose weight in order to get relief from pain and also to avoid other diseases which are caused by excessive weight. I sought help of a gym and there I was put on a strict diet and exercise regimen by the experts. Though initial couple of months were hard on me, gradually, as I began to see changes in my appearance and my health levels, I also got motivated and worked out with full sincerity. Within a year, I lost the excess baggage of 40 lbs and became a fit, energetic and smart girl. Now there is no back pain and I am leading a healthy life.

I used to suffer from severe back pain during my menstrual periods. The pain used to be so severe that I could not go to work or do routine things at home. Each month as the date of my period approached, I used to feel terrified. Then one day, my granny visited us during my ‘those’ days. She saw me looking pale with pain and she immediately realized that it was due to my back pain. She quickly went to the kitchen and got me a hot water bottle. She asked me to lie down and gave me hot water bottle treatment for some time. Then she asked me to keep the bottle under my back at night also. This hot water therapy really worked. When I got up in the morning, my back pain had gone away. Now during my periods when there is back pain, all I do is fill the bottle with hot water and keep it under my back. Within minutes, I begin to feel much better and get back to work happily.

A couple of years ago when I was driving my way to home, I met with a car accident and sustained some fractures. While my fractures healed with time, the back pain which I sustained at that time did not go away and became a cause of concern for me. Then one day when I was sitting sadly due to niggling back pain, one of my friends came to meet me. When I told her about my back pain, she told me about yoga and its positive effects in our lives and well being. She also told me about a certified instructor in our area. The next day, I visited the instructor and told him about my back pain. The instructor assured me that my back pain will go if I follow the yogasanas regularly. With a bit of apprehension, I joined the yoga classes. I was supposed to go there for four times a week. Within a month or so, I began to feel better and after three months, all my back pain and accompanying discomfort vanished. I am now a regular visitor at yoga classes and have made it a part of life.

One year ago, I was suffering from back pain, which had made my life difficult. I was not able to do my day-to-day chores easily and used to feel tired and hurt very easily. On one such day, I told my husband about my back pain and to my utter surprise, he gently caressed my head and asked me to lie down on the bed. He then massaged some hot oil on my back and asked me to sleep for an hour. After an hour when I got up, I was feeling much better. The next day my husband took me to doctor and the doctor gave me calcium supplements and asked me to use mattress made of cotton wool rather than foam. Sleeping on the cotton wool based mattress has really helped, and since then I have not experienced the crippling back pain. Sometimes due to exhaustion, I do get mild back pain but when I take rest on the cotton wool based mattress, the pain vanishes quickly.