After last year’s December Smagam because of many hours of sitting down in Kirtan and handling heavy things(even with picking up using the proper technique and not bending the back) somehow by the end of the week my back was hit with constant excruciating pain. I couldn’t sit stand or do anything without a throbbing soreness that stung a lot.
I had a collection of few little handouts from over the years that supposedly would help correct back pain. None of these small exercises ‘designed to relieve back pain’ made any difference. Then I tried to use a mediball and tried to walk.
As a last desperate attempt I hung from the stairs hoping the tension on the back would ease. With a week of doing these and with total bed rest it seemed to get worse. It seemed to go on for so long that I thought it had became a permanent condition.
Then I realized there was this book lying somewhere with the title ‘Your Doctor’s wish: Lasting relief for aching backs’ by Dr. Amrik Singh Sidhu. I had seen it so many times but never bothered to have a look inside.
After some searching I found it. It turned out this guy Amrik Singh was no ordinary doctor but someone with extensive real life experience in the subject and much more. From reading the few pages of the testimonials it seemed that this guy knew what he was doing and all the people who he had treated were really bad cases of long term varied back problems- accident victims to big time CEO’s and everyone in between.
Just reading the first few pages made it look like results actually could be achieved by anyone with just 10 minutes twice a day.
Just out of curiosity doing to search on him uncovered just one article from the UBC student paper. The other more interesting find was the actual book, published in 1982 lists the price at $5.25Cndn but someone on amazon.com was selling a used copy for $68.00US plus shipping!
This guy was really someone who knew what he was talking about because he had professional experience with Olympians, CFL and NHL players.
So doing the exercises he illustrated in the book three times a day for 3 days greatly reduced the pain of the lower back significantly. By the end of the week it was completely gone!
His whole approach to back pain recovery has to do with:
1) Good diet: giving up coffee, pop, tea and anything that has a lot of fat and caffeine
2) Exercise done with simple Breathing techniques
3) Posture: assuming a correct posture while doing things leads to pain prevention and even recovery
4) Stress reduction: stress intensifies back pain and muscle tension and if reduced back pain is also reduced.
It seems he’s just gone underground. It would be great if he could publish a second edition of that book, it’d change a lot of peoples' lives.
Too bad UBC didn’t realize his greatness and what he would have brought to their athletic program. Here is the article on him:
Frustrated Sidhu Quits
By ALAN DOREE
A man who could make any pro team in North America has just quit UBC.
Amrik Sidhu isn't a coach or athlete but a sports scientist. The only man on this continent with his qualifications, he's worked with teams in the National Football League, Canadian Football l League, National Hockey League e and World Hockey Association. He turned down contracts with some of these teams, although serving them as a consultant, to work here in the school of physical education.
"I wanted to teach students to handle fitness programs after they graduate. To recognize each person's needs differ and conditioning must be based on those needs," he said.
Sidhu, a doctor of sports science and former member of India’s Olympic team, said he feels the traditional university approach to physical education is to produce graduates, not skills. "It's a cycle. Everyone completes the same requirements for their degree, but few realize their potential." Graduates then perpetuate this process in their own fitness s programs. He calls it a trial and error process which subjects everyone to the same tests and exercises.
You either quit or, "You harm yourself struggling through a fitness program not designed for your needs, thinking you're staying in shape. People think exercise means exhaustion, sweating a lot, but that's wrong. A proper program enables you to develop without killing yourself. "
Part of the reason Sidhu left UBC is because he couldn't implement such programs. "I couldn't do this here. I was stagnating. I couldn’t get money to expand facilities."
Sidhu worked in the War Memorial gym's basement physiology lab. "People supported my ideas in my lectures, but not in application. As a scientist I'm not interested in just producing better athletes, but in raising the genera l level of fitness among those interested."
Sidhu feels this is not typical of North America's approach to sports and fitness.
"Sports is so commercialized here, people, want packaged solutions. Again, with the intention of applying them to everyone. In Europe this isn't done. Russia n hockey, for example, is nothing magical. They condition people according to their needs an d abilities, then on this foundation build the skills necessary to play the game. Here, people want only the skills, as quickly as possible. They try to learn the game before they know their potential."
Sidhu attended the Central Scientific Institute of Sports and Physical Culture in the USSR, where he became the first foreign student to write and defend his dissertation in Russian.
