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Reader's story - Summer 2001
It's nearly two years since I completed my Think-Back programme and whilst I am still in pain, it is not as bad as before. If I do have a flare up I am much better equipped to deal with it. I still take the odd painkiller. I'd be lying if I said I didn't. The difference now is that the 'pill pot' is the last thing I reach for and not the first! My new skills learned at Think-Back have, without doubt, helped me turn my life around. My exercising has got me fitter- the stretching has loosened me up and helped ease the pain and I have a new confidence in my ability to do things. I don't suppose that Think-Back has all the answers or that it is the answer to everyone's prayers. Pain management programmes are not a cure, but they can be a big help. You can have your life back - not your old life but a new and perhaps a better one! After all, who wants to spend every day worrying about what they will or will not be able to do? Gone is the fear that any exercise at all is going to harm me. All that negativity (I can't do this or I can't do that) is thrown out of the window. The right kind of exercise is not going to hurt anyone providing it is done properly. We can do anything we want as long we go about it in the correct manner. This is contrary to what I was told by various physios: 'If it hurts don't do it'. This is the stock answer of a lot of health professionals and is no help at all as, when you have chronic back pain, everything hurts! Planning, Pacing, Persistence and Patience (the 4 Ps) are the keys to dealing with our predicament! Plan what you want to do and pace yourself. For example, don't do anything for too long, and break the tasks down into manageable sized chunks. It's no good doing a couple of days/weeks by the book, finding oneself feeling better and then spoiling it by going hell for leather at something and finding one is in a flare up situation or, worse still, a set back. Trust me, I know, I've done it! But I try my hardest not to do it any more because, ultimately, it will be me (and my family) that suffer the consequences. Persistence-well, that's the hard one isn't it? You have to keep at it and not give up! Nothing worth doing is ever easy. If you do give in and let your chronic pain run your life as I did for SIX years -then the only person to lose out will be you; you will have given up on yourself! It will not matter a damn what anyone else says or does because the one and only person that can do anything about the pain is YOU! If one feels a few more aches and pains once the stretching and exercising starts, remember: not all hurt equals harm. More often than not the extra aches and pains are the body's way of telling us that we are using muscles we have not used for a while. So use the tool everyone has at his or her disposal - COMMON SENSE! For instance, if you haven't done any exercise for a while (like me) you may need to hold the stretch for 10 seconds and not 15, One has to be patient, mostly with oneself, and one has to be persistent and keep plugging away with the stretches and the exercises. Remember how long it took to become a chronic back pain sufferer and do not expect to feel better overnight. The chances are one will be disappointed. Even typing this piece I've done three different jobs. I've done some ironing - standing I've put the washing on the line - moving about - and of course a bit of typing - sitting. So, you see, less can equal more!
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