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Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), with its 2500 year old history, offers many lower back pain remedies - lower back stretches, lower back strengthening exercises, massage techniques, acupuncture, herbal remedies, liniments, sticking plasters and others. Some require a trained TCM practitioner to administer them, while others can be easily learnt and applied by anyone. This article introduces the latter - simple, effective lower back pain remedies and stretches for lower back pain that YOU can apply yourself to relieve and prevent lower back pain.

Lower Back stretches

Breath slowly, smoothly and deeply through your nose while doing the exercises.

exercise 1. Lie on your back on a firm bed or the floor. Gently bring your knees up until they're above your abdominal area. Spread your knees a little and grab the inside of your shins just below your knees, or the inside of your ankles if you can. Inhale. As you exhale let your knees naturally fall further out to the side with gravity. Focus your mind on your lower back (closing your eyes helps). Feel your inner thighs stretching and your lower back relaxing. Hold the position for a few minutes as you continue to breath slowly, smoothly and deeply. This exercise stretches and relaxes your iliopsoas muscle which connects from your lumbar vertebrae to the inside of your hip joints. Tension in this muscle often causes and/or aggravates lower back pain.

exercise 2. Lie flat on your back on a firm bed or the floor. Bend your knees and slide your feet up till they are near your backside. Inhale. As you exhale, flatten your lower back by gently pressing it into the bed or floor. Hold for several seconds, then let your lower back return to its natural, curved position. Repeat 3 or 4 times, several times a day.

exercise 3. Lean across a table and grab the far edge with both hands. Your torso should be on the table and your legs hanging from the edge. Inhale. As you exhale, let gravity naturally pull your legs down towards the floor. Feel your lower back stretching. Hold the position for several minutes as you continue slow, deep breathing. Focus your mind on your lower back (closing your eyes helps) and imagine the pain releasing with each exhalation. Repeat several times a day.

For more lower back stretches as well as lower back strengthening exercises, try these:

http://chinese-holistic-health-exercises.com/back-stretching-exercises.html

Lower Back Pain Remedies

1. Ginger & Sesame Oil Liniment

Mix together equal parts of pure sesame oil and the juice from grated ginger. Heat in a pot till warm. Apply a small amount to the painful area and rub it in for a couple of minutes. It should be applied to unbroken skin only. Ginger and sesame oil liniment is a superb, easy-to-make, home remedy for back ache and other aches and pains. It warms, circulates your blood and stops pain. You can safely apply it several times a day, particularly after showering and before bed. Make sure you pull your clothing down over your lower back immediately afterwards to keep the area warm. Also, while it's normal for your skin to become hot and turn red after you apply the liniment, if a rash develops discontinue use.

2. Lower Back Self-Massage

Can be done standing or sitting. With fists clenched (not too tightly), use the backs of your hands, including your knuckles, to vigorously rub your lower back up and down for several minutes, 3 or 4 times a day. Rub close to your spine and also the sides of your lower back - where ever you experience pain and stiffness. Self-massage is a highly beneficial lower back pain remedy you can do anytime, anywhere to relieve AND prevent lower back pain. Massage warms the area, moves the blood and directly stimulates your kidneys, which helps to maintain a strong, healthy lower back.

Tip: To greatly enhance the effects of the above lower back pain remedies and lower back stretches, combine them. For example, lie down and do the first 2 stretches, then stand up and do the lower back self-massage, then apply some Ginger & Sesame Oil Liniment. You know your body best though, so experiment till you find what works best for your particular situation. For more lower back pain remedies and lower back stretches visit the authors website.

Matthew Scott is a professionally trained Chinese medicine practitioner from Australia, living in China since 2000. His website http://chinese-holistic-health-exercises.com offers classic, time-tested exercises & techniques to stretch, strengthen, energize, relax, & ease pain.

Actually, the term "visualization" is a misnomer. With this technique, you will be using more than just your visual golf faculties. When you do Power golf Visualization, besides seeing what you desire, you will also hear it, smell it, taste it, and feel it.

Whatever you think about most often, expands in your golf game.

So if you are constantly worried about not having a consistent swing, you will get more life experiences of not having a consistent golf swing. Focusing your golf mind on opportunities to improve your swing will get you a thousand times further than worrying about not hitting the ball consistently.

But Power Visualization is more than just positive thinking. It's about putting your mind and body in the ideal place first, and then flooding your subconscious with a colorful experience of your golf game as you want it.

The more relaxed you are, the more open your subconscious is to receive the messages you want to send it. And the more senses that you involve in your Power Visualization, the more of an impact it will have.

Let's say that you wanted to have a pro golf swing. The meaning of a "pro golf swing" is too vague a term. What kind of pro swing do you want? You need to be absolutely specific. You want the same swing with the driver as Tiger for example.

And once you have that decided, you're going to Power Visualize it. You are going to see yourself walking up to it. Your are going to feel how smooth and perfect the outer body feels. You can yourself seeing in the same set-up position like Tiger, seeing yourself in the same position at the top of the backswing etc. You get the point.

Here's another important characteristic of the subconscious mind: it can't tell the difference between your outer world and your imagination. Meaning that if you visualize an event in great detail and with a lot of emotion, your subconscious mind will believe that it's really happening.

And the more times you practice Power Visualization properly, the more "real" it will seem to your subconscious. This is key because once it believes your visualization to be a fact, it will feel tension when your current outer reality doesn't match up. It will then go your assistance by sending you ideas, opportunities and motivation to transform your outer world.

Action plan for Power Visualization:

Step 1: Decide what part of your golf game you want to visualize.

Step 2: Lay or sit down in a comfortable position. Listen to relaxing nature sounds with subliminal affirmation.

Step 3: Take a deep breath, hold it for a count of three, and as you exhale, say the number 10 to yourself. Take another breath, hold it for a count of three, and as you exhale, say the number 9 to yourself. Repeat this until you get to the number zero.

Step 4: Now visualize your goal. Don't view it from the third person. Put yourself there. Use all of your senses. Experience in vivid detail how this goal looks, feels, tastes and sounds like. Smell the grass on the golf course. The more specifics you can add, the stronger the effect. You will know that you are doing it correctly when you start to feel excited. This is caused because your subconscious mind honestly thinks that this event is happening. It causes you to feel joy.

Step 4: Once you have visualized as many details about the goal as you have the time for, and the amazing golf mind video is over you can start to come back to full awareness. Take a deep breath, hold it for a count of three, and as you exhale, say the number zero to yourself. Continue this process until you get back to ten. Hold your breath once more, and this time as you exhale, say the following phrase out loud: "I am now fully awake, energized and refreshed." Done correctly, you will feel energized and refreshed.

Andy discovered a secret mental golf technique that is successfully used by the top tour pros. Tiger is said to use subliminal mental golf training since he was 13.

You can watch a free video and get a free subliminal mental golf audio to improve your short game instantly here: http://www.amazinggolfmind.com