So I stopped doing Egoscue and...

[Darth Rock&Roll]

There are literally hundreds of Yoga postures.

All can be arranged from easy to difficult and all can be arranged into a method that is phased and has a purpose of your own personal development.

No offense, but I think a lot of methods like feldenkrais and other somatic theory stuff are for the most part appealing to people who are beyond "out of shape" and they also appeal to young people who don't want to work too hard to get themselves in a better state of body awareness.

Ultimately, there is no right or wrong, but I find the less physical methods to be more appropriate for people with disability or aging issues as opposed to young guys and people who are capable of maintaing and cultivating without such a slow approach.

imo.

[Bhassler]

.

[Andy_S]

Buddy,

Have you checked out any Dayan Qigong? Sorted me out after years of lower back pain. I believe Michael Tse teaches seminars on it in the US (NYC. maybe?). I wouldn't recommend learning this method from a book, though.

Nowadays, I also find Taiji - done VERY slowly - helpful during occasional pains. The method taught by Chen Xiaoxing - emphasize weight shift, then sink and ensure lower back is straight, while de-emphasizing the waist turn, is, I believe, highly beneficial for lower back problems. This method works lower back alignment like no other I have come across.

[Buddy]

Thanks Andy,
I have a structural imbalance. My right hip is higher than than my left and causes a limp. I think I now know the origin but I can't fully weight the left leg. And I can't shift and turn on it at all without failure. I can compensate to do our baduanjin. But if you could send me a link to the Dayan, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Buddy

[Andy_S]

Just Googled this:

http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/goose.htm

Adam Wallace, mentioned on the website, is in the US and is under Michael Tse, who I learned from.

BTW, I am sure you have considered this, but just in case you haven't....have you tried a shoe insert to raise the lower hip?

[Formosa Neijia]

Personally I don't think any qigong method is going to correct Buddy's problem because they're usually preventive, not corrective. You would need to find someone that is good at tuina to get the imbalance addressed directly and then use a qigong method tailored to the problem to prevent it happening again. A person who can do that will be difficult to find.

The other recommendations for Rolfing, Feldekrais, yoga therapy, etc. are more likely to work IMO.

I say this from personal experience having come through a painful year myself. Tuina is great for working the problem directly, but few people can teach qigong as physical therapy.

Dave C.

[Andy_S]

The reason I mentioned Dayan qigong is because I had lower back pain for around 10 years and I tried everything....chiro, western medicine, osteo, acupuncture, extended rest, etc and nothing worked. Then after about a year of Wild Goose, it cleared up (touch wood, pretty permenantly - though I still get the occasional twinge). Dayan is a pretty active qigong - lots of forward, backward and sideways bending.

Also, like Buddy, I have a slight structural imbalance (my left leg is marginally shorter than my right) so it may work.

There again, it may not.

[Formosa Neijia]

The reason I mentioned Dayan qigong is because I had lower back pain for around 10 years and I tried everything....chiro, western medicine, osteo, acupuncture, extended rest, etc and nothing worked. Then after about a year of Wild Goose, it cleared up (touch wood, pretty permenantly - though I still get the occasional twinge). Dayan is a pretty active qigong - lots of forward, backward and sideways bending.

Also, like Buddy, I have a slight structural imbalance (my left leg is marginally shorter than my right) so it may work.

There again, it may not.

Yeah, I mis-spoke. It's not that qigong can't be corrective. I've had my qigong practice correct several problems. It's just that the correction is a bit more general IME, whereas the Western body methods (which seem to have been derived from the Eastern modalities) are a bit more direct in their ability to correct imbalances.

Dave C.

[Michael]

Great posts!

[ashe]

actually i think i would agree that qigong seems to be a bit more preventive in nature, unless you've been smoking two packs a day etc. and then take up qigong, whereas having someone work on you directly to correct a problem works a bit better in the short term.