A Healthy Back

Is that Greg hitting practice sand shots and then practice chip shots and putting?  Hey Greg you look great, what happened. 
See that guy on the third practice tee?
You mean the skinny black guy with the tiny blue square glasses?
That's  him.  Know who he is? 
I was hitting balls next to him yesterday but I don' know who he is. 
He is a physical therapist.  Know Dr. DeBaky? 
The heart transplant doc in Houston?
Yep, well  DeBaky uses  him for his patients..  He gave me a little stand up massage and told  me a simple exercise he says will keep my back healthy.  I did it for more than a week and here I am playing golf with no back pain.  Don't ask me any questions,  he's a real  nice guy, go up and ask him.
Remember me from yesterday? 
Sure. 
I was just talking to Greg and he thinks you did a miracle.
No miracle, just a simple exercise.  I felt his back and fortunately I think that's all that was wrong with him.  You playing?
Yes.
Well just find a tree limb that exceeds you reach and reach up from the cart and grab the limb.  Then relax and hang, and I mean relax, and stretch as far as you can..  Then bend your head as far back as you can and hold for a few seconds.  Then bend you head as far to the front as possible and hold it again for a few seconds.  That's all you do but do it twice each time.  Once a week. That's it. 
What's it do.
It stretches the spine and the area around your discs.  Some discs get little exercise, stiffen up, and you get problems.  Look, he presses a finger joint.  Pop.  Hear the noise?    Watch.  He bends his head back as far as he can, holds it and then bends forward and I hear, pop,pop,pop.  That's air from around the disc area.  He can do it just standing.
What if I cant find a tree?
You can use a bar or limb that you can reach standing, but its not as effective.  You grab the bar, relax and stretch out, that's the important part. You have to bend you legs at the knees till you're off the ground and then do the exercise.  But, you must stay fully stretched and relaxed all the time, and that's not as easy as it sounds.
I say to him, I don't listen to many people about things like this but I'm going to do it.  Thanks a lot.
That was over 30 years ago.  In 1986 I used a bar over the seats beside court #10 at North Shore.  About 1990 I went to a new location that didn't have a  handy bar, I didn't look for a new one and after a couple of months I had a very, very uncomfortable back experience for the first time since I started.   I got back on it as fast as I could.  No problems since.  Maybe I'm just lucky, but on this issue, I don't think so.  And, last I heard, Greg's back problems did not return.