Jon Knoche, an ex-basketball star in college, had been in tip top shape, so he thought, when he discovered that a herniated disc in his back spoiled any hopes of continuing his basketball career to the professional level.

In his prime Mr. Knoche was running up to 10 miles daily, hitting the gym and playing basketball all in the same day!  He adds, “I was in peak physical condition…and once the last buzzer rang, it was very emotional,” when referring to his response to finding out about his back injury.

Knoche played a couple years of basketball in junior college before transferring to Las Vegas to play for UNLV.  He unfortunately ended up in Urgent Care being recommended almost immediate surgery because of his herniated and bulging disc.

“My left hip was four inches taller than my right,” Knoche goes on to explain the severity of his condition. “I couldn’t get out of bed and when I did, I was crooked.”

Never has he been a huge fan of surgery, but who is.  Going against doctor’s orders, Knoche started researching holistic and alternative treatments to manage the pain and hopefully, in time, improve his condition.  It was at this time that he discovered Bikram yoga.

Bikram yoga, or hot yoga, is essentially yoga in a 105 degree Fahrenheit environment.  The purpose is to induce profuse perspiration to rid the body of toxins and help promote muscle flexibility.  It is meant to restore balance and rejuvenate the body, which in turn allows the body to heal itself holistically.  

“It’s a total workover of the whole body from inside out,” he explained. “There are beginner poses and basically every pose has a therapeutic benefits. ... Some people with injuries see it as an avenue to heal injuries. That’s what it was like for me.”

It is five years since Knoche was told that surgery was inevitable.  Today, however, you won’t find him gimping around with fused vertebrae and a long history of rehabilitation treatments.  Instead, you can run into Knoche in his yoga studio in Arizona teaching yoga classes as a certified instructor.  Although he started with a Google search five years earlier about how to help cope with a bad back without traditional surgical methods, he is now an expert on Bikram yoga and lives 100% pain free.