Christine Thomas has completed an 18-day tour of China, studying Tai Chi. She meditated in the mountains and met masters of the ancient discipline. She told us how a bad back led to her falling in love with the often misunderstood martial art.

I WAS putting my motorcycle on its stand in the back yard when it went - soft click that announced a horizontal perception of the world was on the cards for the next few days at least," said Christine Thomas, 40, of Oswaldtwistle.

"Half an hour later the indescribable pain - known only to us in the bad back club - arrived, leaving standing impossible and movement reduced to the gentle lurch from chair to various other pieces of furniture.

"After two days and no improvement I called the doctor, only to be told to lose weight and exercise," continued Christine, a customer relations manager for Padiham-based coach company Fraser Eagle.

"I shuffled slug-like to the cupboard and, after dropping the contents of the cupboard on my head, got out the Yellow Pages and found osteopaths."

After being crunched, bent and snapped back into place, Christine was given a stark choice by the osteopath - lose weight or face back pain all your life.

"Twenty years of horse riding, motorcycling, a lot of pizza, Indian takeaways, KFC, and those really nice chocolates had caused this.

"Now I needed to lose the equivalent weight of a person.

"But I knew I couldn't take the impact of the gym, running or aerobics."

As if by fate, that evening a leaflet appeared on Christine's doormat advertising a Tai Chi class at the Chen Tai Chi Centre, part of the Dragon Society School, in Dale Street, Accrington.

"I went the first night and parked outside feeling totally out of place and trying to get the courage to walk in as some laminated gym bodies walked past," remembered Christine.

"I started the car to drive off when I saw some humans arriving and followed them in, waiting for someone to give me that look.

"You know the one. The one that fit people give fat people in a gym just before they move away in case it's catching.

"But how amazing - they were friendly and made me feel very comfortable, which made such a refreshing change."

Over the next 12 months junk food was replaced by Tai Chi classes three times a week.

The slow movement exercises had a dramatic effect.

Christine managed to cut down her painkillers from 4,000mg codeine and 1,200mg ibuprofen a day to nothing.

She also lost four stone and helped reverse the damage done to her digestion by the high dosage painkillers.

"Tai Chi is different from other martial arts," said Christine.

"Most people know the slow graceful movements they have seen on TV but it can also be a pretty devastating fighting skill when used properly.

"For me, the biggest benefit has not been physical but mental.

"The first requirement is to hold your head up and not look down and from this comes a positive mental attitude and discipline, a tolerance of other things and people which is what I encountered when I first walked into the club."

In August this year Christine took her new hobby to the next level when she embarked on an 18-day tour of China with a film crew, during which she studied with masters of the discipline and performed a sword demonstration.

"The trip left on my 40th birthday," said Christine.

"I thought 'There are only two ways to do your 40th... and one involves sobbing and lots of wine.' So I chose the other - a long flight to China."

There Christine and her fellow students from the club honed their skills and learned some finer aspects of the tradition from the masters.

"We went to the Shoalin schools to train for a day with the kids (they laughed at us) and met a 71-year-old woman who told us she was a former Red Army general and could still do the splits.

"We spent a day with the nuns meditating, then we went to Beijing, visited the Great Wall of China and Tianamen Square."

Christine says taking up Tai Chi has improved the quality of her life immensely.

"I have a very stressful job and I find the Tai Chi helps me to unwind.

"As my back is very stiff in the mornings, it helps me to gently stretch out for the day," she said.

"If you feel that you are in charge of your illness rather than being its victim, you feel better.

"Finally I can handle the pain I have had for years and hold my head up high.

"The weight loss and ability to touch my toes are just cool extras."