Freedom From Pain

Mona Charen
Thu, 20 Nov 2025 15:47:36 -0800
Opinion

Reflecting on gratitude for this holiday, I want to highlight something that can be shared with the wider world. Last year at this time, I focused on reasons to be thankful despite Donald Trump's reelection:

Trump ran on promises he cannot possibly fulfill. He swore to reduce prices and raise tariffs. He doesn't have the foggiest notion how to reduce prices, and raising tariffs will only increase them. He also promised that high tariffs will pay down the debt, subsidize the costs of housing and child care, and be paid by foreigners ... Um, no.

This year, if you'll indulge me, I want to share something that may seem trivial compared with the fate of the republic but that may just help others. I am grateful this year to be free of back pain.
Updated: Fri Nov 21, 2025

Reflecting on gratitude for this holiday, I want to highlight something that can be shared with the wider world. Last year at this time, I focused on reasons to be thankful despite Donald Trump's reelection:

Trump ran on promises he cannot possibly fulfill. He swore to reduce prices and raise tariffs. He doesn't have the foggiest notion how to reduce prices, and raising tariffs will only increase them. He also promised that high tariffs will pay down the debt, subsidize the costs of housing and child care, and be paid by foreigners ... Um, no.

This year, if you'll indulge me, I want to share something that may seem trivial compared with the fate of the republic but that may just help others. I am grateful this year to be free of back pain.

For decades, about twice a year, I would get back spasms that were so excruciating I would weep. The pain would last for days and sometimes as much as two weeks, making every movement, even attempting to roll over in bed, agony. Back pain is bizarre (as even orthopedists I have consulted agree). For example, you can X-ray two people's backs. One will have obvious signs of disc troubles, arthritis or scoliosis, and the other will have a completely normal skeleton. Yet the one with the normal X-ray gets repeated episodes of crippling back pain, and the other is fine. Also, the pain seems to have peculiar timing. You can lift a heavy box and cart it down a flight of stairs without any evident problem, but then the next morning, as you're reaching down to pull on your socks — wham! — you see stars and can't move. I have been trapped on the floor for long periods, struggling by inches to get up. But then once you're up, you are loath to sit because it's so easy to get stuck. When you attempt to rise from the chair — wham! — the whole system starts zapping like electric prods. And though you can have moments of relief, you live in abject fear of the greatest threat — the sneeze!

While in the throes of back spasms, your body contorts. My husband refers to it as looking like a question mark. And speaking of my husband, for the first couple of days of each of these sieges, I needed his help to get my shoes on. Cannot imagine how people who live alone get through these trials.

Back pain is the world's leading cause of disability. Evolution scientists blame our ancestors' transition to bipedalism, which apparently had lots of survival advantages (throwing spears and such) but basically took a spinal structure that was designed for four legs and transferred it, without enough engineering tweaks, to two. You don't see apes and orangutans complaining that they can't reach their sneakers.

According to the National Institutes of Health, about 80% of Americans will experience low back pain at some point in their lives, and at any given time, about 26% are suffering with it. Not all of them are having the curl-your-toes kind of pain described above, but some are no doubt having even worse symptoms (if that's possible). Back pain is the second most common reason for hospitalizations, and runs up approximately $250 billion in costs annually.

I had tried heat therapy, massage, physical therapy, fascial stimulation (which is supposed to release the connective tissue pressure in the body), wearable heating pads, and lots and lots of ibuprofen and Tylenol (I don't like opioids). Everything except the fascial stimulation brought a degree of relief, but nothing freed me from the curse until, through a dear friend, I found a trainer who knew his stuff.

Slowly and patiently, he led me through the exercises that would strengthen my core muscles to provide support and stability for my lower spine. We then progressed to the stretches that would keep me limber (well, more flexible than I would be without them), and overall strength and stability training.

I am not presuming to offer medical advice. Obviously, some people have back issues that can't be improved by these sorts of interventions. But for the millions who don't have nerve damage or tumors or other conditions that aren't amenable to core training, these exercises can be life changing. Not only am I free of back pain (apart from the very occasional twinge), but my overall strength, balance and stability are dramatically improved. It's been three years since I've had a bout.

I recognize that not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to hire a personal trainer, but there are other options. Research has shown that Pilates, which focuses on core strength, is very effective at treating and preventing back pain. Also, my trainer swears by Robin McKenzie, a spine specialist, whose books are available for purchase.

It's a blessing to plan for Thanksgiving without fretting that lifting the turkey or fitting extra leaves in the dining room table will ignite a holiday-killing bout of back spasms. I'm grateful, relieved and hoping that this might help others, too. Happy Thanksgiving!