“The first step to receiving an answer is being brave enough to keep asking questions”
If there is one thing I know I am good at, it’s not giving up on something, I am very determined. For the past 12 years since my major horse riding accident (read last blog) I have seen many health professionals and spent thousands of dollars trying to get to the bottom of my chronic back pain, I hold nothing against anyone I saw they all tried their very best to help me in their own way and I am so thankful for that, but most times I underwent a period of treatment and never seemed to make much difference to my ongoing back injury. Mostly I was told I had a disc injury, I was very inflexible, my core was weak etc etc, worked very hard on the latter two (even though neither seemed correct to me due to my background and current occupation), but I worked on them anyway, but with no relief from often severe and debilitating back pain.
It’s funny how we just learn to live with things and they just become our new normal. Ever had your phone break and then you don’t get it fixed and just just get used to working around it’s smashed screen and broken buttons and it isn’t until some else points out how annoying it is you have just kind of adapted. Well sadly this happens to many of us with an injured body all too often and chronic back pain definitely just became part of my life, I probably can’t even tell you how many days over the past 12 years it’s taken me 10 minutes to convince myself to get out of bed, and then I have had to shuffle to the edge, sliding one leg over at a time, wincing in pain, tears of pain running down my face, unable to do basic things like put on my own shoes and socks, pick up my puppy, get in my car and god forbid I drop anything on the floor. If you know me and you’re reading this you’re probably saying but I never even noticed, I also got very good at pretending I was absolutely fine and would go on my normal life as much as possible during these flare ups still with a smile on my face a lot of that was how I coped I think. I would have flare ups like this every few months and recently much more frequently, they became my normal.
One thing I never did was give up searching for answers why at certain times my body seemed to hate me. I have had an amazing team of people helping me with my pain relief two in particular have always been in my corner and seen me in some pretty bad states I want to thank my beautiful yoga teacher and close friend from Inspya Me Yoga Therapies Nic Whiteman and my massage Therapist from Sydney Elite Massage Anthony Kaleel without you two not sure how I would have coped. Anthony recently referred me on to see an incredible Sports Medicine Doctor from Shire Sports Medicine Dr Brandi Cole, in one consultation she answered all of my 12 years of ongoing questions surrounding my back pain, I have never felt so sure on everything she said. She diagnosed me with Sacroiliac Joint (SIJ) Dysfunction which is improper movement of the joints at the bottom of the spine that connect the sacrum to the pelvis. The sacrum is a triangular bone at the bottom of the spine, below the lumbar region of the spine and above the tailbone. These joints act as shock-absorbing structures and typically only move a small amount. Often a high impact accident can cause SIJ Dysfunction and cause Hyper-mobility, or too much movement in the sacroiliac joints, is a result of loose ligaments supporting the joints. This condition may be misdiagnosed as a herniated disc, which it had been in me for 12 years.
What’s next….
Well after always thinking I might just be this way forever I walked away from that appointment with Dr Brandi Cole told of a 4-5 month treatment plan that would get me back to a pain free life doing everything I love. She asked what my ultimate end goal would be and I said lift heavy weights again and do lots of burpees haha, she said ok let’s get you back there.
Treatment plan….
I started physiotherapy immediately with Ceiran From Fit & Flow Physiotherapy she has spent the past 3 weeks trying to realign my pelvis and body in preparation for my first Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy which I had yesterday. I will undergo this treatment most probably three times over the next 4-5 months roughly 6 weeks apart. Sadly my activity level during this time will be very little as it’s important to give my body time to heal itself, for two weeks post injections it’s no exercises and being carful with everyday activities and then 3 weeks of working with Ceiran and Brandi leading into the next injection. It’s going to be a long road ahead, but to be honest I don’t even mind if it means my life will be pain free afterwards, because I don’t remember what that feels like.
Don’t live in pain…
Pain isn’t something we should get used to living with, I think until recently I didn’t even realise that myself. Keep searching for answers, we know our own bodies better than anyone and they are usually trying to tell us something if we are feeling pain.
I am excited to track my journey over this next few months and promise to be open and honest about my experiences and hope to help some of you out there who may be undergoing rehab or may need to in the future.
Happy Sunday beautiful people
