Helping to solve the pain in the back

Pain is something over the years I've learnt to live with. Well 'live' is probably a little strong, 'cope with' is probably a more accurate description.

I've been diagnosed about 10 years ago with Scheuermann's Disease, and whilst it does sound scary, it basically isn't life threatening or something contagious. Throw in for good measure a dose of Scoliosis, and you can see my back health is more like a car crash.

I've also managed to injure my back about 8 years ago quite seriously that has never recovered. As a result of the 3, I'm in some level of pain almost all the time. It ranges from mildly annoying, to painful enough that it takes your breath away. Pain over such a long period of time does wear you down mentally, as it's a constant mental battle in order to keep the wolves at back so you can attempt some resemblance of a normal life.

Unfortunately the nature of my job (System Admin) means I spend long hours sitting. This has a tendency to stiffen up my back. Car rides longer than two hours can be extremely painful.

Over the years I've tried a number of different therapies to try and alleviate the pain so that I can enjoy life more. This has ranged from:

• Chiropractic Manipulation
• Acupuncture
• Sports massage/Deep tissue massages
• Chinese Massage
• Gym work
• Swimming
• Explored medical surgical procedures

Each has worked to a certain level, yet nothing that moved beyond a little relief. In some cases it only aggreviated the pain and stiffness.

After a while, it feels like a long painful lesson in futility.

Over the years I've managed to ride this storm of pain through a variety of methods.... not all are recommended however.
This has included dosing up on heavy sedatives and 'sleeping through' the pain (not recommended), using alcohol to numb the body (also not recommended), heat packs, heat rubs, and regular stretching and movement throughout the day. Unfortunately up until this point, medicine has failed to find a 'solution' to my problem.... and resulted in several of these unorthodox approaches.

Family members for some time have been harassing me to visit their Chiropractor over the years. I'd been to 'bone crunchers' before and whilst I had some initial relief, it normally saw me being sore for 3-4 days afterwards, and no lasting relief. I was sceptical to say the least. They calmly reassured me that she didn't use such 'arcane' measures.

My back hasn't been improving over the years. I'm often numb down one side, and often experience pins and needles in my fingers. It's not uncommon to be in pain from my neck, shoulders, back, arms, and buttocks in one sitting. (no pun intended).

I really had started to believe it was my lot in life, that I was destined to experience pain and increasing pain the older I got. I really wasn't looking forward to 20-30 years time. Whilst I'm in my 30's, and it's just bearable.. I had asked myself - "How the hell am I going to cope with this when I'm 50 or 60?"

In order just to shut-up my harassing family, I thought I would visit this person they kept demanding I go see. (Yeah I am stubborn -- deal with it!)
I was expecting to visit a few times, find that it's nothing different to the numerous other paths I had taken and I could cross that off the list as well (and shut them up in the process!)

I rang to make an appointment, and found I couldn't get in for some 6 weeks. She was away at a conference. Normally I would kindly tell the receptionist don't worry and I'll call back (and probably not). For some reason I didn't... Five and a half weeks past... and I didn't give it much thought and I saw the appointment blinking in my calendar. I watched in dread as the day loomed.

The day arrived, and I thought I would go along with an open mind.
I'm glad I did.

To say I've never done anything like it would be an understatement. What she had to say made a lot of sense. Through body manipulation and specially designed stretches I was starting to feel immediate results. That's not saying it was easy, in fact it's damn hard work.

After discussing further with her over the hour consultation I learnt she had been studying Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabization (DNS - and not that DNS!). She had just returned from Prague where the leading expert in the field (Professor Kolar) had been presenting on it.

It's intensive therapy over a period of approximately 6-12 weeks, and exercises 3-4 times a day, and sessions 1-2 times a week during that period.
I've just returned from my third session this afternoon, and whilst I'm sore for the treatment (lasts a few hours). I have been having some fantastic results.

This weekend saw me travel 7 hours in a car (something I would never consider beforehand), with the only side-effect being fatigue, lifted a freezer, and shoveling a metre of crushed rock. Only weeks ago, any one of these activities would have resulted in me being laid up on my back for a day or two, and struggle through pain for several weeks later.

I'm no expert in Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabization, but from a lay-person undertaking it - it's basically 'brain training' and teaching your brain to move your muscles correctly. Often when we injure ourselves we limp or compensate. If it's a prolonged injury, this limping remains, even after the initial injury has healed. This compensation puts undue stress on other parts of our body, not designed to handle that load. DNS reverses this 'limping' and reverts the body back to it's natural position (millions of years of evolution can't be wrong!). It's this re-training of the brain out of the compensation state and into a normal healthy state that DNS addresses.

It does address 'core strength' that we often here about, but goes well beyond it. It's techniques that the patient can use for life.

So if you do have ongoing back pain, and have felt like you've tried everything without much success, I would highly recommend you do the research and find a practitioner in your area of Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabization. What have you got to lose except maybe that painful back.

It's working for me!