Exercise

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.

As 38 percent Americans are using some form of alternative or complementary medicines, more Americans may be attracted to visit an Ayurvedic Spa Resort in India for efficacious therapies like anti-aging/rejuvenation, including for old age disorders, body detox/purification, back and spine care and more…

(PRWEB) October 12, 2009 -- There's little doubt that an alternative medicine like Ayurveda which is gaining popularity in the U.S. is likely to draw more Americans to try such alternative medicines, as Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with western medicine's inability to deal with many chronic disorders and illnesses. Americans are more than willing to explore and see if an alternative medicine like Ayurveda, (http://www.ayurspavacations.com/packages.html) a traditional form of East Indian medicine that originated thousands of years ago, could offer suitable solutions for some chronic disorders or illnesses.

With over a fifth of American hospitals now offering some sort of alternative therapy along with conventional medicine, and medical schools embracing them, an astonishing 38 percent of adult Americans have used -- and are continuing to use some form of complementary or alternative medicines (CAM), most of them without informing their physicians.

Americans spent $33.9 billion out-of-pocket on CAM in 2007 alone, U.S. health officials report. CAM includes medical practices and products, such as herbal supplements, meditation, chiropractic and acupuncture, which are not part of conventional medicine. "The bottom line is that Americans spend a lot of money on CAM products, classes or materials or practitioner visits," Dr. Josephine P. Briggs, director of the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, said during a teleconference July 2009.

The main reasons Americans turn to alternative medicine is for pain relief and to contribute to their health and well-being, Briggs added. Briggs noted the survey was done to find out which areas of CAM warrant research by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The survey was done without regard as to whether any of these alternative or complementary approaches actually work, she said.

With the ever rising demand for such wellness therapies to offset life's many stresses and health disorders that make life unbearable and make people age more quickly than they expect, DanGlobalMed, a medical tourism company is offering 12 great wellness programs at an Ayurvedic Spa Beach Resort in incredible India.

Focusing on improving people's health, wellness and well-being, these 12 holistic programs are offered mostly as 14-day packages at a beach resort in Kerala, India, except for a 28-day slimming/weight loss program (http://www.ayurspavacations.com/slimmingweightloss.html). The packages are affordably priced and include the cost of the full therapy/treatment, hotel accommodation (single or double occupancy) and all three meals.

As a complementary therapy Ayurveda's popularity in the U.S. is increasing. "There is a major push for study on Ayurveda in the United States," says Dr. Daniel Furst, director of clinical research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, who led a study of rheumatoid arthritis to test combinations of allopathic and Ayurvedic treatments for rheumatoid arthritis to determine efficacy. "It (Ayurveda) (http://www.ayurspavacations.com/home.html) has been practiced for 3,000 years [in India]. No one will do it if it is garbage. It will gain credibility if adequately tested and will be used more." No wonder Americans are spending billions on alternative medical treatments.

Dubbed "God's own country" because of its green and scenic splendor, Kerala is the most apt location for an exotic Ayurvedic spa vacation, because this is where Ayurveda originated. The beach resort attracts guests from Europe, Russia and other parts of the world throughout the year.

Among the most popular programs is anti-aging or rejuvenation, (http://www.ayurspavacations.com/rejuvenationtherapy.html relaxation), body purification, spine and neck care and relaxation combined with stress management.

Ayurveda addresses the well-being of the entire person. Herbs and minerals, nutrition and purification, affirmative ways of living are a few of the ways in which Ayurveda treats not just the ailment but the whole person, emphasizing prevention of disease to avoid the need for cure.

Apart from the rejuvenation, relaxation and stress management therapies, the other programs are: spine and neck care, (http://www.ayurspavacations.com/spineandneckcareprogram.html) rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, insomnia, beauty care and weight loss.

Guests can begin the day with FREE yoga classes. Experienced Ayurvedic masseurs offer the benefit of the most genuine of Ayurvedic therapies and treatment, through massages, scrubs and wraps that help you overcome physical problems, while you drift into a tranquil and perfect environment. This is supplemented with oral medication every day.

As each program specifically focuses on the wellness of the individual it's ideal for those who wish to combine their vacation with an exotic health care program like Ayurveda (http://www.ayurspavacations.com)/rejuvenationtherapyforoldagedisorders.html and yoga.

When Dr. David Eisenberg, MD, now Director, OSHER Institute, Harvard Medical School proposed a survey to determine the popularity of alternative medicines, while doing a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School as far back as 1993, "Nobody bought it, nobody paid for it, no foundation was interested. My mentors and I laugh about it now. [At the time, they] said, "Even if you do this and even if you show the numbers are large, no one will care..." But I think history would prove them wrong.

"But we were shocked by the time we got the data and I remember going home to my wife, almost shaking and saying, 'Honey, the numbers are huge, it's one in three Americans. It's thirty-three percent of the United States adult population. It's thirteen billion dollars, it's not reimbursed. Very few of these people are ever discussing it with their physicians; this is enormous.'"

Renowned alternative practitioner Dr. Andrew Weil says: "If a therapy is not harmful, why not experiment with it? Why not try it? Especially if conventional medicine doesn't have anything great to offer.