Tag Archives: Back pain

A relatively new approach to chronic back pain is beginning to make headway into mainstream medicine: It is called “physical therapy boot camp” and I am in my fourth week of the program run by New England Baptist Hospital. The results, at least for my Marfan-related back pain, are miraculous. For the first time in what seems like years, I can walk longer and engage in daily life activities without pain in my lower back and hip. It takes work, rather than popping pain pills (which I don’t take): I go twice a week for directed stretching and an hour of closely supervised weight training on gym machines, with steadily increasing weights and repetitions. At home, I follow their program of stretching, walking and weights. And it is really working. This is going to become a regular part of my life.