This is a personal story of how I went from having constant lower back pain that took away just about everything I worked hard for, to living a great life again and thankfully not going down the path that my doctor wanted me to go. It is not that I don't recommend seeing your doctor if you are experiencing back pain, it is important to get a medical diagnosis before doing anything else but in my experiences doctors are only willing to look at the immediate problem rather than looking at the big picture when it comes to back pain.
My back problems started in late 2005, well actually working as a motor mechanic I always had a sore back but it wasn't until this time that things became unbearable. Long story short I had to sell my business and live the grand life of a disability pensioner. Around this time I started seeing a spinal specialist who after sending me for x rays and ct scans thought that cortisone injections were what I needed for a bulging disc in the L5/S1 area.
Initially these worked well to control the pain but after half a dozen or so they were becoming ineffective. It was then suggested that I undergo a nerve block to stop the nerve sending pain signals to my brain. This prognosis did not sit well with me and I decided to have a look around before committing to such a thing.
After a considerable amount of research it became obvious to me that one common lower back pain cause that the doctors seem to be ignoring is the effect that muscle imbalances can have on your spine. Many therapists of varying disciplines where saying much the same thing, if muscle imbalances are not treated early and in the correct manner, they can be the cause of disc and vertebrae issues and can contribute to the onset of sciatic nerve pain.
This surprised me as from what the doctors where telling me I understood back pain to be caused by a structural problem with the spine, after all it certainly did not feel like muscle pain! What I did learn was that my problems had probably started off as a muscle imbalance, which would explain the sore back after bending over a car all day, and had more than likely progressed to the disc problem I was now facing.
In the end I decided that I would give this muscle imbalance thing a go as I wasn't keen on back surgery of any kind and after first identifying my trouble areas and following the exercise and stretching routine that dealt with these areas I can honestly say that it was the best thing that I ever did. Simple stretching and exercises are all that it has taken for me to be able to live a good life again.
I will never be able to go 'back to the tools' and I do still have bad days if I am not careful with what I do but for all intents and purposes I am a functional human being again. Unfortunately with back pain there is no magic cure or magic pill that you can take and finding relief does take some work but once you get there you will feel like a different person and that feeling is great!
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