News

Breath Therapy May Relieve Back Pain

Students Learn To Connect With Their Breath

POSTED: 2:52 pm PST January 11, 2006

UPDATED: 11:56 am PST January 16, 2006

Taking a breath therapy class may help to alleviate lower back pain.

"Doctors said to me I'd have to have surgery, my whole lumbar spine was disintegrated," said Margot Biestman, whose back pain was once so bad she couldn't get out of bed for eight weeks.

Almost 20 years ago, Biestman decided to take a breath therapy class at the Middendorf Institute of Breath Experience in Berkeley, "I just experienced relief from then on," she said.

After taking the class, Biestman said she no longer needs surgery and is as flexible as she was in her 30s.

This mind-body therapy helps harness the body's own potential to heal said instructor Yurg Roffler.

"The basic principle is allowing the breath to come and go on its own," he said.

However, physical therapists and orthopedic surgeons caution that this type of therapy alone may not alleviate all back pain and that in some cases, surgery is the best option. Roffler admits this is not a "quick fix" -- breath therapy takes time and dedication.

Even though Roffler admits it doesn’t always work, there is scientific proof that it does.

University of California, San Francisco researchers studied patients with low back pain and found those who had breath therapy sessions felt the same degree of relief as those who had physical therapy.

Students can also have a one-on-one breath dialog with an instructor, which connects them to their breath by guiding it through their body.

"When I notice back stiffness, I go back to my breath and almost immediately, I start feeling different," says Kirsten Shepard who found relief from the nagging back pain she has had since she was 14.

Enhanced body awareness, developing a grounded sense of self, and learning how to connect with and experience your own breath is an abstract concept but, as Biestman found, the results are very real.

"I don’t have any pain, its amazing," she said.