When Chris* reached out to me he’d been experiencing chronic back pain for almost a year and low, grumbling pain for far longer. It was only when it had become unbearable that he contacted me.
A great sadness was how much his world had shrunk. He’d loved sport and playing Tag Rugby in particular, as well as enjoying the social life that accompanied it. Now none of this was possible because of the debilitating back pain. It started as a tingling pain in his left mid-back and increased to what Chris described as extreme pain that spread to his mid-back.
Over the last ten months Chris had seen various specialists and had MRI scans of his spine and his brain as well as a CT scan. These investigations concluded that although there was a slight curve in Chris’s spine, his symptoms overall were ‘non-specific’ and he was prescribed opioids for pain relief. When we met, Chris described how the back pain was accompanied by a feeling of compression in his legs and feet, and sometimes also in his arms. At times it was so unbearable that he couldn’t walk.
The opioids hadn’t helped, and it felt as if no-one had a solution. He’d visited his GP multiple times but felt he wasn’t really listened to or taken seriously. Desperation that nobody seemed to be able to help, together with feeling worn down by the intensity of the pain, sometimes brought him close to tears.
After a couple of sessions, I suggested that Chris might benefit from doing my online Resolving Chronic Pain course to better understand the background to neuroplastic symptoms. This relatively short course can complement and add depth to individual sessions. Chris chose to take the course and found it gave him a great introduction to understanding what pain is and how it can show up without a clear medical reason. He began to understand that chronic pain is linked to the brain and to emotions, and it helped him to see how he was stuck in a loop of pain-anxiety-frustration-pain.
From there, we were able to start building on the possibility of Chris regaining some control, beginning with short walks which quickly evolved into stop-start walks/runs. He listened to some ‘Couch to 5K’ apps which also advocate intermittent running. At the same time as working on physical progress and body confidence we began to explore emotional issues.
A lot had happened in Chris’s childhood that had been challenging for the whole family. His brother struggled with a difficult condition that demanded the attention of family members. As a child Chris had developed a learned behaviour of keeping quiet and not being seen in order to survive the stressful family dynamic. As we know, such survival strategies may serve us well in childhood but become redundant in adulthood. They are, however, difficult to ‘unlearn’. Acknowledging that we no longer need these strategies or techniques doesn’t make them instantly disappear. It takes a bit more work - but many of you reading this have done just that.
A few weeks ago, as Wimbledon drew to a close, Chris excitedly messaged me to say that he’d reached the semi-finals of his local tennis club tournament. All the intermittent running training had paid off and there was no trace of back pain. He was jubilant.
Please email me directly at magsclarksmith@gmail.com if you’re interested in the short online Resolving Chronic Pain course.
*Name has been changed