Nick came to us after 15 years of chronic back, neck and shoulder pain that started with a football injury when he was 22 that resulted in a disc herniation at L5/S1. He spent years dealing with recurring pain and flare ups that made work, training and physical activity increasingly difficult.
Like a lot of tradesmen, Nick was used to being physically active and putting his body through its paces. The problem was that almost every time he tried to train with traditional weight lifting or push himself physically, the same problems would eventually come back.
Before & After
When Nick first started training with us in late 2022, his pain was a daily occurrence.
His lower back pain was around 7/10 every day, reaching 10/10 during acute flare ups. His neck pain was around 8/10 daily, again reaching 10/10 when things became acute. His shoulder pain was less severe at around 3/10 daily, but could reach 5/10 during a flare up.
These flare ups were happening almost every week and sometimes could last for a week at a time. Training was one of the main triggers, meaning Nick was caught in a cycle where trying to improve his strength and fitness would often leave him in more pain.
Within the first few months of training with us, Nick was able to significantly reduce his most chronic and debilitating pain. Now, his lower back and neck pain has dropped to around 1/10 with acute episodes reaching around 3/10. His shoulder pain has been resolved and importantly, he no longer experiences regular flare ups.
The flare ups that did occur were also becoming much less frequent and would generally last a day or two rather than taking him out for an entire week.
The Outcome
The biggest change for Nick isn’t simply that he has less pain. It’s that he has been able to rebuild his physical capacity.
Nick has continued training with us, not because he is still trying to get out of pain, but because he is now able to use training to build strength, resilience and movement capacity that he didn’t have even before his original injury.
For someone who works a physically demanding job, this is particularly important. Being able to work hard without constantly worrying about whether his back, neck or shoulders are going to flare up has given Nick a level of confidence in his body that he hadn’t had for years.
He also now has the tools to self-manage when he does occasionally push himself too hard. A big day of physical labour or a heavy surf might still create a niggle, but instead of being taken out for a week, he knows what to do to get himself moving properly again.
As Nick puts it:
“The daily back, neck, and shoulder pains that plagued me for years are now almost nonexistent, and if I do experience any niggles or relapses they are very short lived, as I now have the tools to self manage my problems.”
After 15 years of chronic pain, Nick is no longer training simply to manage his problems. He’s training to see what his body is capable of.
We take the same approach with every client. Rather than simply focusing on where someone hurts, we look at how the whole body is functioning, including posture, walking and overall movement patterns.
If you are a tradie who’s been dealing with chronic pain for years and you’re finding that work, training or physical activity continually sets you back, a posture and movement assessment with us may help identify why the problem keeps coming back.
