In the autumn of 1992 I lifted something heavy and the next thing I knew I was doubled up in excruciating pain. Something strange had happened to my lower back and for the next three days I was confined to bed. With the help of some pain killers, slowly things improved and after about a week I was back to normal. About six months later a similar thing happened with the same result! Another few days in bed and a gradual recovery helped by tablets.

My problems continued off and on for about ten years until one period of pain didn’t respond to the normal course of treatment i.e. rest and tablets and things got worse. Racked with pain and taking increasing amounts of pain relieving medicines, I visited various specialists. Over a period of about three years these specialists included Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, Acupuncturists, etc.
I hate to think how much money I spent on various treatments but it must run into several hundreds of pounds.

I even bought a very expensive mattress and pillow ‘guaranteed’ to provide a cure. I used heat pads in winter and took daily hot baths to try and find some relief.

Eventually I came to the conclusion that specialist help didn’t work for me and my condition was deteriorating, I went to see my GP again (one of many visits) to discuss my problem. To be honest I didn’t get much sympathy. I remember her telling me how common back pain was and that everyone suffered from it occasionally. My pain had become pretty much constant and her suggestion was to take anti inflammatory tablets. I started to take the prescribed medicine and the relief in pain was almost instant and miraculous. I was pain free……. for about a week. Then the pain came back and so I upped the dose slightly to compensate. Another pain free week and then back it came again. This time I was very reluctant to up the dose obviously. I was beginning to feel pretty low. As many of you know, living with constant back pain is very upsetting with no sign of relief or light at the end of the tunnel.

Sound familiar?

One day feeling pretty depressed, I was thinking about how I might be able help myself overcome this disabling condition. I didn’t want to keep spending money on specialist treatments and I absolutely wanted to stop taking anti-inflammatory medicines. Having two young kids and not being able to play football in the park or play golf or squash was really upsetting.

This is what I discovered.

I picked up a Yoga book at the local library one day. Seemed to me that a lot of what was done in Yoga revolved around stretching. Having spoken to various specialists, it was clear that the lower back was a very complicated part of the human body with lots of interconnecting bones, muscles, nerves and tendons. I knelt down sitting on my knees (I know not everyone can do this) and leant forward. By doing this I stretched my lower back. Nothing miraculous about that I would agree but I stayed in this position for about three minutes, gently stretching. The next day I did the same thing again, three minutes of sitting on my knees, leaning forward and gently stretching my lower back. After about a week of this is could feel certain muscles and tendons unlocking. It was a little scary as there were some very odd cracking and popping noises emanating from my lower back but what I think was happening was simply years of stress being released. After a couple of weeks of doing this, I was literally pain free again!

Previously as recommended by various specialists I had stretched but never for that length of time. I have noticed other people stretching before and a quick ten second stretch was all that they did before starting an exercise programme.

It’s now about 9 months since I found the stretching cure that works for me and I have not had any backache since. I can honestly say I feel like a massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I can now live my life again to the full. In addition I have recently thrown away all my anti-inflammatory tablets and have not visited either my GP or any specialist.

This is not a push for you to go off and exercise the pain way. This is based on my own experience and how I got better. A SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE THREE MINUTE STRETCH.