My pain doctor in Frederick maryland had no faith in it and never prescribed it for me. The only other times I was prescribed it was by a family doctor and my pain doctor here in Hamilton.

It didn't work either time because

1. It is too static. I went in there, did my exercises in repetitions and left.

2. The therapists treated everybody like naughty little kids in detention. The ones in the States practically barked at me like I was in boot camp. I did it for two months before I had had enough of their treatment of me.

The ones in Hamilton were even worse. I did my reps on some days without a single person talking to me. When they did talk to me it was in very condescending tones and the final kick in the teeth was when they took the candy dish away. I guess I ate too many candies for their tastes, even though I was paying $65.00 a session—only to be ignored.

3. Chronic pain is a whole body issue. There is mental demoralisation and often anxiety that goes along with the physical pain and the physical therapy doesn't address it.

4. Physical therapy often only focuses on one part of the anatomy that is hurting. When the whole body hurts it's much harder to "rehabilitate" that part. Being told by the therapists to "try not to think about the pain" is about as helpful as trying to tell someone who's driving in a car that has a flat tire to ignore that flat tire and keep on driving.

Physical therapy in North America is very Western and is a band aid solution. There is no addressing the extreme stress that contributes to the pain.

Our western ways try to teach people to stick our fingers in our ears and hum. Look at the monkey look at the monkey. There isn't a problem that can't be solved by another prescription.
But don't do those illegal drugs. We'll throw you in jail longer than a serial rapist if you do those.
Crazy thinking, much? It's no wonder that addiction to prescription drugs is a bigger problem than doing illegal drugs. But so far the American way is to punish people for being addicts.

I have always said that addiction is a symptom of a society gone very wrong. Addicts manifest the sickness in our society. The more addicts, the sicker, stressed, desperate and lopsided our society is. Addiction is the rash that comes out.

Addicts are a sign that our society has broken down, that people are not being given the tools to cope.

Now studies are beginning to show (clinically proven!!) that yoga decreases the addictive tendencies that plague Westerners.

This is exactly why I prefer yoga. Yoga is a whole body approach. Not only do you get more fit and flexible, you do get to control stress and anxiety through meditation, breathing and controlling those thoughts by just letting them pass through you instead of trying to block them out.

I prefer in conjunction to the yoga massage, reflexology, Reiki and progressive relaxation.

We pain patients have to take control and be proactive, because so far, true understanding of what causes pain is still not the highest priority in North America.

A news story on CNN finally addressed the issue of stress being a contributor of pain. Possibly the major cause of pain.

Duh.