Are you confused about the information you have already received and struggling to manage your pain?
When you are struggling with pain and trying to help yourself by seeking out the right medical advice, it can become a frustrating merry-go-round of different advice, opposing diagnosis, conflicting recommendations, and failed treatments and approaches. This can be extremely disheartening and troublesome (not to mention expensive) for the person struggling in ongoing pain. You end up a few years later really not knowing what to do and being wary of the advice you receive because you have been told so many different things.
And all of this time your pain hasn’t gotten any better, you have stopped doing more and more activities , you have had to stop playing sport or certainly modify your exercise, the number of exercises you can do pain free are dwindling and you are just not yourself, unhappy, in-pain, frustrated and confused.
In Ireland and especially in Dublin these days, with easy access to MRI’s and specialists, surgeries are increasing but people aren’t getting better. You can become so desperate you will try anything just to get your life back and be able to play with your kids or go for a run again.
The specialist doesn’t seem certain, so let’s just inject it and hope for the best. The initial relief you might get wears off, the pain returns and you are no more active or enlightened than you where years ago with the added disappointment and frustration thinking……am I ever going to be pain free again.
And then the murky world of physio’s, chiropractors, osteopaths etc where well-meaning but misinformed health professionals enlighten you as to the myriad of things that are wrong with you and contributing to your pain.
I have heard nearly every line in the book from my patients:
- I have a slipped disc
- The physio says it is my L4/L5
- I have wear and tear in my joints
- I have arthritis
- One leg is shorter than the other
- It is my posture
- It is my feet
- My Hamstrings are tight
- My flexibility is poor
I hear these ‘phrases’ every day of the week when I see a patient for the first time and everyone of the phrases above is based without any substantial medical evidence. As medical professionals, we have no proof that any one of these phrases above are justified in causing your pain. Its simply not true.
The problem with advice like this is it can really affect your own belief’s about what is causing your pain and these beliefs can become a barrier to your recovery, so how do you know what to do?
I hope you enjoyed part 1 please read part 2 here to find out the type of treatment you need and the types of things you need to do to get your life back!
