A back pain story
*Nicole was stuck.
Half-way dressed. Stooped over the bathroom sink.
Midway through cleaning her teeth her lower back had decided to become a right-angled rusted door hinge. Who would’ve thought that such a simple thing could cause Rapid-Onset-Dodgy-Back-And-Coccyx-Karma (RODBACK). And pain! Like a hot-tempered vice holding on with high violence. She was in four-letter pain.
At 48.5 years old Nicole had never felt this sort of pain before. “Must’ve broken something…” she said 3 days later as she limped in to my treatment room “probably at least 17 vertebrae out of place…can you fix it doc?”
She had been sitting for longer periods at work recently and yes- she’d been struggling to sleep well since the kids were babies and ok, maybe she hadn’t done any serious exercise for 15 years but still, where did this horrible pain come from?
Where did this horrible pain come from?
Once I’d been able to rule out more serious back issues and we’d talked about her slow but steady decline in muscle strength, stress from work and the dangers of the extreme sport- cleaning your teeth- Nic started to get it. The penny dropped and some colour returned to her face.
Then, I did some gentle loosening of some of her stiff bits, mobilising the joints causing the problem and some strapping to “sticky tape her together” for stability. Then she felt like moving again and some hope of getting a decent night’s sleep (teenagers permitting). Nicole allowed herself a deep breath and a half smile while she bent down to tie her laces.
Back pain can be very nasty, debilitating and confusing but it’s not a death sentence. Like Nic, you CAN get better, and you CAN reduce the risk of it happening again. You just need a physio with some good intel, no fearmongering and a bit of Magic Back WD40.
I’ve got the best job in the world.
If you want to start getting your back better, call us on 4062 8862.