I barely noticed the first time I hurt my back. I was just goofing off with some friends, trying to do high jumps into a bunk bed. And most of the time I landed against the edge of the bed, but we were having fun, so I kept trying. The next morning sitting at my desk I noticed some mild lower back pain, nothing to worry about since I was twenty-something and indestructible. I just ignored it, and that was a fateful decision. Two years later I was having dinner with another group of friends and the conversation turned to lower back pain and weirdly at that moment I began to experience back spasms.

I had no idea what was happening to me. I only knew I was in a lot of pain. I couldn’t move, and it was kind of scary. Once the back spasms had eased enough that I could walk again, I made my first appointment with a chiropractor. When I asked him how long it would take for the lower back pain to go away, he just shrugged and said, “This is what happens to your body when you’re 30.” For the first time I realized my body wasn’t going to be problem-free forever, and so began a 20 year journey to cure my lower back pain.

I tried chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, moist heat, dry heat, ice, drugs. I found that if I got care on a regular basis, at least monthly, I was able to avoid back spasms. There were even periods when I thought I was fixed, that I conquered my lower back pain, but every so often, once every one or two years, my back would suddenly go into spasm, I’d be immobilized for a few days, and end up right back where I started. In fact, the back spasms seemed to increase in intensity as the years went by. Sometimes I would almost throw up from the pain.

It was frustrating and discouraging. Despite spending large amounts of time and money and effort in cultivating wellness, nothing really seemed to change or shift. I felt stuck in the same place. Then my massage therapist, who I respected a great deal, told me about his experience with something called, “Network Spinal Analysis,” and I was immediately intrigued. Network Care uses light-touch at strategic points along the spine to awaken and enhance the body’s ability to heal itself.

Given my background in voice training, I liked the emphasis on taking responsibility for one’s body rather than expecting someone else to fix it. I located a practitioner of network care in my area and got to work. Eight years later, I can say without exaggeration that network spinal analysis changed my life. My body is in a completely different place than it was before, and I am free from lower back pain. I am not just maintaining or keeping things in check. I feel my body changing and progressing.

I am in my body in a completely different way. I walk differently. I breathe differently. I have a different stance towards the world. I have even taken significant breaks from network care without regressing. If anything, I have continued to improve. When it comes to wellness, I would be the last person to claim that one approach is right for everyone. What works wonders for one person, be it acupuncture or Pilates, or Bikram hot yoga, may do relatively little for the next.

But Network Spinal Analysis has been a powerful part of my journey towards freedom from lower back pain. I can recommend Network Care without reservation to anyone who is open to an alternative approach and ready to take personal responsibility for his or her physical well-being.