Many people who cultivate come from the field of martial arts, and suffer knee problems from having over-extended their joints from too much kicking.

As to back pain, well just about everyone complains about  it.

Naturally you know about going to a chiropractor to fix joint pains, but there are some other bodywork therapies you can try.

The best therapy I ever came across for eliminating back pain was fixing the knee joint, which I saw done by a famous doctor in Hong Kong. You can find the articles describing this on the site. People would come from all over the world, he'd reset their knee joint and presto — they could bend and touch their toes, TMJ would disappear, and back pain would be gone … INSTANTLY!

Another lesser known therapy that sometimes helps is NCR, by Dr. Dean Howell, which you can also find on the web. A number of people have been trained in his techniques, and it's done wonders for my own tailbone problems which originated from having been hit by a car when young.  Dozens of chiropractors and body workers over the years have not been able to help that section of my anatomy because of the jamming that had been done, but when the sphenoid bone in the skull was moved due to the NCR techniques, an untwisting the spine occurred which progressively fixed the tailbone. This can also be a miracle therapy for those who need it.

There's also prolotherapy for the knee, which involves injecting the knee joint with a variety of healing substances that will help it regenerate tendons and cartilage. Many doctors offer prolotherpay, and the key is to find someone with lots of experience. Just because a doctor can do something doesn't mean he's very skilled at it.

Remember Bill's 80-20 rule when dealing with ALL types of professionals: 80% aren't anything special, only 20% are pretty good and the ones you'd bother to recommend to friends, and perhaps 3-5% are exceptional. Only 1-3% are outstanding. Doctors, lawyers, dentists, accountants, astrologers, martial arts teachers, chiropractors, massage therapists, dry cleaners, nutritionists, you name — they all follow this rule. So choose a bodyworker, doctor, chiropractor or some other health professional CAREFULLY.  It's better to spend more money and get it done right than spend less and get no result at all.

Bodywork and massage also sometimes helps, but who do you go to? I always tell people to buy this $7 manual of practitioners throughout the US … just look up your area code, then city and then scan all the names of all the bodyworkers in your area. Those with the most number of certifications and courses listed that they've taken — those I'd try first.

What's that book called? "The International Association of Healthcare Practitioners Directory." This is something you buy, keep in the house for years, and use to help all your family and friends. Every year I refer to it to help friends in various cities find a good body worker who might help them. The IMT therapies of bodywork, invented by Sharon Weiselfish-Giammatteo, also deal with healing "bone bruises," which even help with the pain felt by amputees who have lost limbs.

As to nutritional supplements, well we could spend days discussing what might or might not work. It all depends on the situation. So today's focus has been on bodywork, because your want to fix any STRUCTURE that's out of place before trying to eliminate any pain originating from  misplaced bones. Fix the problem, go to the source.

Of course, you can always try the famous skeleton meditation for bone pain — imaging your bones as shining silver or white in the area of the pain. That will send chi to the area and help with healing.

Lastly there is a meditation method my teacher taught me for resetting the chi of your bones when they hurt, or for helping to move your bones into new places. You learn how to grab on to the chi or etheric structure of your bones  and then push this chi structure into a more favorable location. This bone setting is actually a meditation method and few can learn it unless they already have some stage of kung-fu, but it's something for you to know about as well.

As to your knees hurting when you sit cross-legged and first start to meditate? Well, you just have to work through it. It's like burning up Hell karma, so abandon any attachment to your body and let go when it arises. That in itself is meditation again.

Hope that helps — a variety of therapies for bone pain that your doctor never told you about, and probably never will.

Get well!