Back To The Basics

A CBS 2 News Special Assignment

Back pain plagues more middle-aged Americans than anything else.

Thousands go for surgery every year, but one man says the cure for what ails your aching back means simply getting back to the basics.

Special Assignment: Back To The Basics aired Wednesday, June 9, 1999 at 11 p.m.

Kathryn Hewitt's daily ritual consists of stretching and meditative breathing. Things she says are good for the mind, the soul and her aching back.

"I was often lying on the ground trying to draw on the floor because I couldn't sit up for longer than an hour at a time," Hewitt told CBS 2 News' Gretchen Carr.

As an illustrator of children's books, Hewitt spends long hours sitting at her drawing table perfecting her art. But her back has paid the price.

"There was a point where I had to lie on the floor every hour and take a rest because my back was so painful," said Hewitt.

Just when the pain was so piercing, and surgery seemed the only solution, her doctor suggested yoga. A year later, the pain in Hewitt's back is practically non-existent.

Hewitt is just one of many Americans turning their backs on back surgery and opting for the holistic healing of yoga to restore their spinal health.

Even some medical professionals are opting for yoga over the miracles of modern medicine.

"I realized my profession wasn't treating back pain properly," Dr. Art Brownstein told Carr. "I want people to know they can heal their own back pain naturally in the overwhelming majority of cases without drugs, without surgery and, even though I'm a doctor, without a doctor."

Brownstein is the author of "Healing Back Pain Naturally." As a former sufferer of back pain himself, he tried surgery several times.

"I was hooked on pain pills. I got depressed, I was suicidal," he said.

It was when he was facing surgery again that he says he discovered the healing powers of yoga.

"This simple stretch alone can completely eliminate back pain in many cases," said Brownstein.

Instead of pills, he prescribes the power of positive thinking and self-healing through stretching, strengthening, and stress management.

"I want people to know that their minds are very, very powerful tools as elements to their own healing process. Whether they've fallen off a scaffolding or whether they've been rear-ended in a 100-mile an hour car crash, their minds are the guardians of their body's health," Brownstein said. "This is not controversial, there is nothing new in this book."

Nothing new, perhaps, but not controversial? Not so, says Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Wang, head of spine surgery at UCLA.

"He concludes that all the spinal disorders are related to the muscles, and that by fixing the muscles you will be able to reverse all these other conditions," Wang told Carr. "Well, that's just plain wrong."

There are patients that are in wheel chairs, and to say that they're in wheel chairs because they aren't thinking the right way is absolutely wrong."

While Wang agrees that exercise and positive thinking are helpful to muscle relaxation and overall good health, he says the notion that yoga is the answer to everyone's pain is painfully false, said Carr.

But while yoga may not be a cure-all, Hewitt says it's cured her and changed her life.

"I ride bikes with my kids now and I run sometimes, which before I wasn't even able to run across the street," said Hewitt.

Brownstein also recommends a well-balanced diet and avoiding substances like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, which can cause the body stress.

He suggests trying these things first before considering invasive surgery, which he says can sometimes do more harm than good.