Back pain is a complicated, personal experience. It’s different for everyone depending on where it’s located, how long you’ve suffered and how severe it is. Personally, in my experience as I’ve suffered for a few years, it’s debilitating and exhausting. I have lumbar spinal stenosis and have had a slipped disc that was surgically removed. Unfortunately for me, the pain is ongoing because of bone spurs on my spine, muscle spasms, muscle weakness, I could go on…Ouch! My pain is like a roller coaster, ups and downs, flare ups but sometimes, if I’m lucky, I’ll get a day when I only experience a 5/10 on the pain scale! Those are good days, but very few.
So how do I live with it? Obviously it depends on how much pain I’m in. It’s pretty bad at the moment so it’s difficult to stay positive. Mind over matter? Listening to your body? Learning posture positions? Bodilight Osteopathy? Yes…all of those things are helpful! I have recently been advised by a Bodilight osteopath to listen to what the pain is telling me, it’s my body, I don’t live with it, it lives with me. What I’m trying to do now is to lose the harmful habits I’ve built up over the years and to try to move more freely. Freedom of movement in balance, support and coordination. Will it work for me? I have no idea, but I’m going to try. You reach a point where you will try anything. Being unable to sleep, feeling depressed, tired all the time, unable to concentrate, popping all the pills the doctors give me. It’s all got to stop someday, right? Right!
I have support from my family and friends and just recently, a wonderful osteopath at the Bodilight Osteopathy Clinic. I have hope now, hope that I haven’t had before.
So my advice to anyone suffering in the same way or similar, don’t let it control your life like I have been. Try to think about all the things you can do, not the things you can’t. Ask for help. Don’t be stubborn like me and carry on and damage yourself even more! Seek the help you need. We’ve got this!