A severe back problem

John suffered from a serious back injury sustained when catching an industrial roller door as it fell. He said that at the time he could feel it ‘whack him in the back’. He saw a specialist who performed a laminectomy two days after seeing him. His MRI’s, had shown a large right L5/S1 protrusion/extrusion and annulus tears at L2/3 and L4/5. It was a nasty injury.

Walking was very hard after the operation. He had little or no control over his right foot, which was cradled in a splint. He said that he had pain most of the time, in particular around the wound area. His foot had a constant dull ache. There was muscle wastage in his right leg and he said his big toe felt as if it were bound with string.

He had done back care courses and had been through the rehabilitation process but life was still exceedingly difficult. John, like many people in his situation, protected himself from potential pain by holding himself rigidly and moving with a great deal of caution. He held his neck, shoulders and chest very tightly. It was as if he was lifting himself away from his pain.

Unfortunately this unceasing effort contributed to his discomfort. He also leant backwards when standing. He of course felt that he was standing straight. However, when I asked him to look at his profile in a mirror, he could see that his chest was behind his pelvis.

It came as a great surprise that his idea of ‘up’ or ‘straight’ was not accurate. The problem was that what felt ‘right’ was what felt familiar. So when I helped him align himself, it felt wrong. However, he could see in the mirror that he was standing straighter than he was before.

The way John held himself and moved meant that he was increasing the strain on his back when just standing, walking or sitting, let alone working or maintaining his home. He compared his symptoms when he stood in his normal way with when he was aligned. When he was aligned his pain was greatly reduced.

Through improving his ability to sense his whole body he learnt to align himself and remove much of the inefficient “protective tension” he was carrying. This made movements much easier and improved his ability to listen to his body and know when and how to rest.

We improved the functioning of his right foot through expanding the range of movements available through the parts of his leg he could still control. This created better organisation and improved the control he had when walking. He learnt to walk smoothly and to bend efficiently. As a result, his day-to-day pain decreased dramatically over the three months he was seeing me.