Dr. Jwing-Ming Yang - The Pain-Free Back: 54 Simple Qigong Movements for Healing and Prevention

Ever since primitive man and woman reared up from their knuckles into the upright posture, the groan of My aching back! has echoed down the corridors of history in workplaces, homes, and hospitals. There are many reasons for this historical fact, a number of which have to do with lifestyle changes, fitness, and the modern environment, all of which were spelled out by Dr. Yang in the preface to his first edition and again in the preface to this revised edition. Not only does the back carry the body, but it also carries many of the psychological tensions stemming from our modern life.

In my psychiatric training, I learned this: to look at posture and body position for clues to a persons mental statethe stooped back whose owner seemed bowed by the weight of depression, the shoulders drawn in and tight and the head retracted like a turtles in anticipation of the blow that comes only in the patients imagination, and similar signs.

In my medical training, I learned this: back pain is one of the hardest conditions to treat effectively. The most common approachesprotracted bed rest, lying on a firm surface, time off from workare extremely difficult for the average person to follow. Noncompliance with the regimen is extremely common. Pain medications work somewhat but risk addiction. Muscle relaxants work somewhat but have troubling side effects. Surgery works as a last resort but can make some cases worse. As a young doctor, my heart would sink whenever a case of lower back pain came into the clinical emergency room, because each one carried with it the specter of the failure of Western medicine.

In my gongfu training with Dr. Yang, I learned this: he is a dedicated scholar and a gifted teacher. He merits the highest praise, however, for his efforts to meld Eastern and Western medical understanding in hopes of achieving greater synergy between the twoin hopes that the two worldviews, combined, will be greater than the sum of their parts.

To this end, he has thoroughly revised the first edition of this book, which featured his comprehensive and wide-ranging exploration of qi theory from its historical to its present context; of the structure and function of the back; and of the Western and Eastern approaches to healing it. In addition, he has added some new concepts for explaining qi and qigong from the Western point of view. These changes further express Dr. Yangs lifelong aim of connecting Chinese and Western medical science. Finally, Dr. Yang has discovered that some of the strenuous exercises described in the first editionwhich might tax persons with serious back paincan be done from the floor instead of from a vertical stance; additional approaches for this posture have been supplied in the current revised edition.

This edition continues the approach of the previous version in that the first chapter alone serves as an excellent and clear introduction to the basic Eastern medical and martial arts idea of qi. So well-structured is this discussion that it requires no previous familiarity with this concept. The remainder of the book employs clear descriptions, relevant illustrations, and well-organized instructions to achieve the goal of providing protection and relief from back pain.

Finally, martial arts are inseparable from morality. In the present context, Dr. Yang compassionately but firmly, like a great sports coach, warns against the moral pitfalls of impatience, laziness, and fear. He encourages readers to strive to stretch their limitscarefully!to master pain and weakness in the back. The book you hold in your hands is a noteworthy contribution to this goal.

Thomas G. Gutheil, MD, professor of psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School