10 years of back pain to running 10K
These old running shoes hold a very dear place in my heart and prone to a little sentimentality, I cannot throw them away, despite the gaping hole in them!
When you have lived with back pain for what seems like a lifetime, you will know that running is the last thing you would consider doing. After years of conventional treatments, an MRI scan gave a diagnosis of bulging discs and degenerative disc disease (DDD). Like most people in my situation, I believed that I was damaged beyond repair and destined for a life of pain. At that point, I stopped nearly all physical activities. I felt safe lying flat on my back looking up at the ceiling, you can imagine how much fun that was!
These beat up shoes remind me of the day that I had the confidence and belief to turn this all around.
So how did I do it?
My breakthrough came when I discovered that stress was the route cause to my pain. I was experiencing something called neuroplastic pain, also called Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS). This is a mind body condition, a response to stress. When we are experiencing prolonged stress, as an SOS the brain sends messages into the body which can result in pain or other symptoms such as stomach upsets, skin rashes, headaches and fatigue. The neural pathways that lead to the site of the pain can become leaned and sensitised leading on to it becoming a persistent problem. The brain is simply doing its job, trying to keep you safe. It is reacting to perceived threats as if they are a real and imminent danger. The brain does get things wrong however and these overprotective signals is one of them!
So how did I recover?
I learned that seeing something on a MRI scan does not necessarily mean pain! Recent studies in this field have proven that by scanning people with no back pain, more than half would have the same apparent abnormalities (like bulges and DDD) but without experiencing any pain! Degeneration of the spine is a natural sign of ageing just like my greying hair!
I came to understand that these symptoms are like an alarm system in my body warning me that there was some unresolved inner turmoil. I could now recognise underlying stress and put in place strategies to help deal with it in a much healthier way. In return my symptoms started to reduce.
I became able to identify triggers, behaviours and unresolved emotions that might have been causing these neural pathways to react and activate.
Over time, this helped me overcome my belief that I was damaged, my fear of the pain itself resolved. This gave me the confidence to start exercising again and it felt so good to move without fear. I now live a very active life, with a few runs thrown in for good measure!
My hope is that someday the work and research being carried out in this area will be available to everyone in the future. We are experiencing a chronic pain crisis, with approximately 51% of UK’s adults suffering daily with ongoing pain. With education this could change so many lives.
Please share this information with anyone who has been experiencing pain for 3 months or more, where cancers, tumours, infection, fractures or auto immune disease has been ruled out as this is the hopeful message that they might just need today.
You do not have to live with pain.
You do not need to manage your pain.
You can overcome pain.
I want you to be Vibrant.
