Verified answer

If you have chronic pain, you should see a "network chiropractor", actually it is called Network Spinal Analysis. You could be feeling better in about a month.

I have terrible back problems and after many years of trying different things - NSA was the only thing that really helped.

Other than that -

Natural Chinese Martial Arts - David Lin (combative as well as health)*****

Heart Mind Martial Arts - Yang Fukui (combative as well as health)*****

William CC Chen Tai Chi (combative as well as health)*****

Ren Guang Yi - (combative as well as health)*****

CK Chu - Chu Tai Chi (not sure if combative)

***** = Highly recommended.

Edit:

William CC Chen is one of Cheng Man Ching's top students.

Effectiveness of Tai Chi Chuan is no different from any other martial art. It is dependent first on what the training was focused on. Some instructors teach their style as a self-defense art. Some teach teach it as a sport. Some teach it as a childrens, or family activity. Some try to teach their classes as as to try to combine several of these things. If the student has been taught the true self-defense applications of their art, they have a good chance that their training will be useful for self-defense. If not then what they are capable of will have less benefit in a real fight. With that being said, here is something I witnessed. about 15 years ago...... I was asked to attend a tournament in Virginia to help judge. There was one guy that was a Tai Chi Chuan stylist. He did forms that were slow and took more than 5 minutes to complete. everyone was mumbling behind his back that his Tai Chi was useless as a fighting method. When the Kumite/fighting started, this guy was fighting. He fought only one fight. The opponent could not land a technique. This guy threw only one technique. His punch was so fast. I blinked and almost missed the punch. The opponent was knocked back several feet. he was seriously injured and paramedics worked on him for a long time. The guy was still unconscious when he was transported to the hospital. When we left the tournament, we still did not know the condition of the injured competitor. No one questioned the effectiveness of the Tai Chi after that fight. ....

Search for students of Chen Man Ching he taught in new york decades ago and im sure he still has students living there