Eric's Beijing Diary

Went to a Chinese bonesetter today. I had lined up an appointment with a massage place, but I canceled that when someone referred me to the bonesetter. I thought perhaps she would be a little closer to what I really needed. My back was not hurting from sitting in front of a computer too long. There is some kind of alignment problem that is affecting my back.

The bonesetter took my back apart and put it back together. Actually, she shortened my leg. Or tried to. She felt along my spine carefully, especially the lower back area I had pointed out to her. Then she told me that my left leg is longer than my right leg. She held my left leg, while pressing hard on the right side of my groin, and rotated my leg in its socket. She told me it was going to hurt a little. Understatement. After a bit of that, she put my leg in a sling and swung it back and forth. I thought it a particularly odd way to make my legs come out the same.

Her prescription had three main points:

1. "Your stomach is too big." She taught me how to massage my stomach so that it would get smaller. And she told me to eat very slowly.
   

   
   

2. She told me not to cross my legs when I sit, and to sit straight with lower back flush. I think I kinda had that one figured out already.
   

   
   

3. She told me to be very careful when I pick something up. She told me to pick it up with both hands, not to reach down quickly and pick something up with one hand.
   

   
   

In addition to those things, she said I should avoid swinging my leg over when I get on my bicycle. I don't know what I can do about that, but it is something I need to give some thought to, because I am beginning to think that the cause of the problem has something to do with riding my bicycle. I can't imagine that riding a bike would be bad for my back, but it could be that getting on and off is creating a little too much stress in the wrong places.

I don't like to go to doctors. I don't have a medicine cabinet, and I don't take medicine unless I absolutely have to. Actually, I did not really go to the doctor because of my back pain. I prefer to let my body heal itself. God's Word says that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." The human body has tremendous self-healing power. But this is the second time I have thrown my back out in two months. So I really do need to know what is causing this. Once I find that out, I can prevent it from happening again. I don't know...but I think I'm getting closer to finding the culprit.