Observing Life: I put my back into yoga and it’s helped no end

What to do when handed a surprise medical diagnosis? Get a second opinion and explore alternative therapies.

This month I learnt the value of not only a second opinion, but a third.

Learning to play golf a few months ago, I began experiencing electric shock-like sensations in my lower back. Surely my graceless swing and poor posture were to blame, I thought. Not so, according to a neurospinal surgeon at a well-known Dubai hospital.

“You have spondylolisthesis,” he said with steely calm. “Your fifth vertebra has slipped forward and the disc has disintegrated. Your spine is out of alignment and we need to bolt it back into place. You need surgery urgently, so cancel any travel plans.”

In shock and highly sceptical, I sought out two other consultants. They were both dumbfounded that Dr A, as he shall be known, had made his snap diagnosis on the basis of an MRI, without even taking an X-Ray of the spine. They also reassured me that up to 90 per cent of the people with my minor strain of the condition never need surgery.

Hauntingly, they knew Dr A’s real name without asking me. Reputations, evidently, are easily made and broken in a small city.

Confident in my new choice of neurosurgeon, I embarked upon exploratory physiotherapy sessions with his staff. I also began practising Bikram yoga after chatting to the Lycra-clad ladies who daily ride the lifts of my office block, Concord Tower in Media City.

They were evangelists, extolling the virtues of the sea-view studio called Rawr on the 7th floor and its founder and instructor, Natasha Stephenson. Intrepidly, I signed up for a two-week challenge of unlimited classes and became a convert. The 90-minute cardio workouts were as meditative as they were challenging, in a room heated to 42 degrees. The Bikram had an instantly positive effect on my back and it wasn’t long before I was again sleeping like a baby and walking like a ballerina.

Having been made aware of my back condition from the start, Stephenson took time during classes to highlight poses and extensions where I should be stretching that little bit higher, longer and stronger. The other benefit, compared with my Pilates Reformer classes, is that I haven’t been made to feel guilty about “sitting-out” poses that could potentially inflame trapped nerves of my lower back.

When I reported back to the consultant about my extra-curricular activity, he whipped out a model of the spinal column and said: “That’s fine, but go easy on the headstands.” Seeing the fragility of the small bones in the neck I didn’t need much convincing that using them to support my entire body weight was a bad idea.

While some strands of yoga say the headstand or “Shirshasana” is the “king of poses” and should be practised every day, Stephenson thankfully isn’t of that school. Bikram’s 26 movements, or “asanas”, don’t involve shoulder or headstands, which could lead to musculoskeletal injuries, joint damage or even worse.

That’s why I’m convinced Rawr is a good additional core and back-strengthening therapy for me right now.

So after missing a week of classes, I will dare to sign up for another 14-day challenge. It’s about maintenance, after all, and to keep those dreaded twinges at bay, I’ve clearly got to put my back into it.