Jeanette’s back has improved

Already during my upper secondary school days I started to feel my back problems. I always had problems with my poor posture and my excessive lordosis. It was not until a few years ago that I learned that my problems are congenital. In addition to my scoliosis my hips are of different sizes and my back is too straight in my neck and my lumbar area, placing the normal lordotic curvature between two vertebrae in my lower back, which puts me in danger of getting a slipped disc.

The problems gradually grew worse and for a long time they have been part of my everyday life. I grew used to living with pain. I have seen an endless number of physiotherapists and had a lot of different treatments and training programmes. Sometimes it has improved a little but it has always returned. Toward the end of my university studies it grew much worse. The tension in my back spread down my arms and I got inflammation in my hands while at the same time I was pressing myself very hard. I ended up a wreck, physically as well as mentally. I cried in the mornings when I had to get up and I cried in the evenings when I went to bed.

Jeanette's sister and mother had practised Qigong before My bad back has controlled my life. I have used a large part of my income for treatment just to keep in shape enough to be able to work. I have not been able to travel long distances so every time we planned a trip I had to judge whether the pain caused by the trip was really worth it. I was 26 years old when my chiropractor told me that if I would continue like that I would have to get an early retirement. The ergotherapist at my work thought that we might consider rehabilitation if my back would improve a little through physiotherapy for instance.

In the spring of 2000 I read in the newspaper that there was going to be a Zhineng Qigong course in Åbo. Both my sister and my mother had joined European Zhineng Qigong Center courses before and they were very enthusiastic. I found myself very stressful at that time and I had heard that Qigong was a good relaxation method. I guess I did not believe it would help me physically.

My first course was very hard. I had pains everywhere but afterward life seemed a little easier. I particularly remember that on Saturday after the first day of the course I slept much better than I had for a very long time, and that gave me the incentive to practise and to join further courses.

The results were gradual. I can not say exactly when I got over my “depression” because I did not fully realize how bad it was until afterward. Nowadays I see the fun in life and the sad things no longer get on top of me.

Already after the first course I stopped catching colds. My mother used to joke about my running after every current illness, but these days it seems like I am running in the opposite direction.

My back gets better all the time. I met a friend who has moved away from the city and I do not get to see her very often nowadays. She asked me what I have done since my body seems so much straighter and I look so much healthier. When she heard the reason she applied for the next Weekend Course.

In the summer of 2003 I joined my first Summer Course and in August when I saw my masseur after the summer break he could not believe that I was the same person. Normally my back would be in very poor condition after the holiday, but this time it was better. I practise every day and nowadays I only get a massage every other week instead of once a week for the last six years.

So nowadays I feel much better. I am calmer and more in balance and this in turn affects my work as well as my leisure time. The crises which invariably turn up in life no longer bring me down on my knees. My husband and I can travel far by car on holidays together without my having pain. On the Summer Course this cramping which I had in my hands disappeared. The cramping made my thumbs extend and I have lived with this condition for several years. Now I can work for eight hours with the computer at my work and still have power enough left in my hands for things like embroidering cross-stitches or playing the piano.

Jeanette Heidenberg