WE’VE all heard the phrase ‘it’s a real pain in the neck’ to describe an irksome task but for Daw Yi Yi Pyone, 63, that pain was, until recently, in her lower back and was enough to seriously affect her life.

After a year spent painfully seeing one healer after another – including traditional, western and Chinese practitioners – it was a traditional healer using a modern device who stopped the pain.

“I started feeling bad pain in my back in August last year. I think it started because I carry a heavy bucket from the market to my home every day,” she said.

Soon the pain spread to her legs, weakening the muscles and leaving her less mobile, she said.

“Although I suffered from lower back pain, I couldn’t take much rest. All of my sons and daughters worked and I was the only one to cook for them. My daughters asked me to take some rest but I couldn’t because my sons don’t like other people’s cooking,” she said.

After two months, Daw Yi Yi Pyone couldn’t stand the pain any longer and sought help from an orthopaedic specialist in Yangon.

“I didn’t find any relief during those two months, even though he gave me some medication to stop the pain, and a list of exercises I should do. Actually, doing those exercises only made the pain worse,” she said.

Daw Yi Yi Pyone said she then swapped over to a Chinese acupuncturist, who attempted to cure the pain with cupping. In this process a series of glass cups are heated and placed on the back to aid healing by increasing blood flow to the affected areas.

“The cupping actually seemed to work and the pain went away for about a month. Unfortunately it came back and I became very depressed because I thought I’d have to live with the pain for the rest of my life.

“Because I was so depressed I almost stopped eating and got thinner by the day,” she said.

However, Daw Yi Yi Pyone said she was only looking for help in and around Yangon, until an aunt told her – about seven months ago – about a traditional healer in Mawlamyine who had an excellent reputation.

And so she boarded a bus to Mawlamyine to seek help. After arriving, Daw Yi Yi Py-one was surprised to find out what the therapy involved.

“The clinician used an electromagnetic machine for only 10 minutes. It shook all of my muscles and joints and made me sweat a lot,” she said.

But it worked, Daw Yi Yi Pyone said the pain has more or less disappeared since that solitary treatment and the six-month course of medicine he prescribed. He also warned her off eating some foods, including pork and mango.

“My back pain lessened every day and I rarely feel any pain these days,” she said.

Daw Yi Yi Pyone is not the only person who suffers from pain in her lower back.
Professor Khin Myo Hla, the head of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department of Yangon General Hospital (YGH), says 30 percent of patients that visit the ward are suffering lower back pain. She adds that two thirds of all adults will experience lower back pain at some point in their lives.

She said that although lower back pain can be caused by accidents, arthritis, disease or cancers, the most likely cause is incorrect posture.

“Back injuries can be easily occur when we try to pick something up when our body is in a poor position. It’s also common in people who sit in their chairs for long hours because the longer you sit down, the greater the pressure that’s exerted on your spine.

“That’s why you should do some exercises after two hours of continuously sitting down. And you should do the same exercises every morning to stretch your back,” she said.

She said that the lower back pain typically reoccurs, with about 5pc of sufferers treated at the Yangon Gen-eral Hospital unlucky enough to develop chronic pain.