Her Search for a Back Pain Cure

 Before the pain started, it seemed unlikely that Vicky would suffer from back pain.  She led an active life and was very sporty. Her exercise routine included tennis, running, cycling, windsurfing and skiing.
Then, while on training walk one day, pain erupted in her lower back and right leg.  “The pain was constant and often excruciating,” she says. “I couldn’t stand or walk for more than a few minutes. I couldn’t even sit at the dinner table – I had to kneel.”  After a year-and-a-half of pain, Vicky was feeling suicidal and ended up in a psychiatric hospital. She took six months’ sick leave from work, went back to work, than quit again because of the pain.  She spent over five years searching for a cure for the pain.
Surgery and physical therapy helped ease the pain, but it was always there. She devoted all her free time to searching for a cure for her back pain. “I was on a mission to find out what was causing this problem,” she says. “I was seeing a different therapist every few weeks.”   As her search continued, she encountered Pilates.  That’s when her life really changed.
“My Pilates instructor was the first person to notice my posture issues,” she says. Looking back, Vicky says the walking injury that sparked the pain was probably the “last straw” after years of poor posture and exercising badly.  She remembers how she used to slump backwards when she was standing, putting pressure on the lower back. She also never gave much thought to how she sat at her desk.
It’s possible that exercising had contributed to her back pain because of poor technique, causing muscle imbalances and weak buttock, back and core abdominal muscles.
Two years of Pilates has nearly restored Vicky to her former self. “I’m not 100 percent, but I’m getting there,” she says. She now leads an active life and has taken up skiing and cycling again.
For Vicky, back care involves more than just twice-weekly Pilates classes. “It’s a life-long commitment to looking after my body,” she says. “I spend around 20 minutes every day doing some stretching. I’m constantly thinking about how I’m sitting, walking or standing. I’m just more careful now about how I use my body.”
Do you have back pain?  Don’t wait… Pilates can help get you out of pain now!
For more information contact Complete Pilates & Fitness at 661-208-8900 or visit www.completepilatesfitness.com.