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Back Pain Relief Online (BPR Online) is a project I have been working on (without knowing it) for the past two decades. I have been a chronic back pain sufferer for almost 20 years. Once an aspiring lawyer (now a recovering attorney), I took a wrong turn on a ski slope and ended up seriously injuring my back during my first year of law school. For years I struggled with back pain - always in pain and in fear of causing myself further injury by such simple things as sneezing or bending over. I was able, though, through a religious regimen of exercising and stretching, to continue to do most daily activities and, in general, get on with my work and life.

Then at around age 30 my worst fear came true - I bent over to pick up a basketball and it felt like a bomb going off in my back. After spending 4 - 6 weeks in bed resting my back due to new sciatic pain (this was the biggest mistake of my life), I got out of bed and my body no longer worked at all. I was in constant spasm and could not even ride in the car a few blocks or sit through dinner. This went on year after year, and while I sought out all sorts of specialized medical advice (from physiatrists to pain clinics), nothing really helped.

After a few years of this, it became clear that if I was going to get up off the floor and back into life, I needed to find other ways to try to heal my back injury and to deal with my chronic pain. So began my odessey into back pain survival skills - I had no real road map, only my desire to try anything, and I mean ANYTHING, that might help me to get my back pain under control and get my life back.

That was about 8 or 9 years ago, and since that time I have been introduced to survival skills that I never knew existed. My whole diet has changed (now a vegetarian), I have been Rolfed, deep tissue massaged, cracked, poked with needles in places to numerous to mention, and taken more supplements in one day than I had previously taken in my whole life. I have had Zen therapy, Feldenkrais therapy, and Alexander therapy. I've wrapped on magnets, ice, heat, and a few balms that really smelled bad along with some chinese herbs that smelled even worse. And that just touches the surface - in reflection, it is really amazing to me how many things I have tried and that I survived all of them intact.

And after all that, I can say that while I still have pain, I am finally able to participate in life again - go out to dinner, travel a bit, work again, get married, and raise a family. It feels really nice to be back and part of life after all those years of watching life go by.

I feel very lucky to have my life back. And one thing I always promised myself was that, if I ever did get my life back, I would do something to try to help others who shared in my plight. This website is dedicated to that promise and my desire to provide a resource center for back pain sufferers to share ideas on back pain relief. You can read my first-hand accounts that will hopefully give you some idea of whether certain options might make sense for you to try. In addition, I have designed the site to be interactive so you can share your experiences with me and with each other as well. I hope that you will send in your experiences and suggestions so that I will then be able to include them in the Survival Skills section. I have also included a message board so that you can directly share your ideas, experiences and questions with each other.

I look forward to hearing from you about this website - please let me know through the Contact Page your suggestions on how I can do a better job or the survival skills you have tried that you think I should know about.