I fractured part of my lower spine in a horse riding accident in March 2002 and was aware that if I wanted to try and regain a pain free back (having never had any problems before) I really needed to take matters into my own hands as the NHS treatment I was receiving was fairly rudimentary.
Having been flat on my back in hospital for one week and then in a back brace for another twelve weeks I was getting about my day to day activities in a limited fashion including having returned to work part time. The worst side effect of my injury was that I was experiencing lower back pain predominantly down the right hand side of my lower back and found it extremely uncomfortable to sit for any period of time and driving more than about 30 minutes proved to be painful.Having learned a little Shiatsu a few years ago I figured that this might be a way of relieving my lower back pain, so I went to an open day the Salisbury Homoeopathy Centre to have a chat with the practitioner there. Marcelle was there talking about Pilates to someone and I started to chat with her. What she said made a lot of sense, especially that the muscles in my back would be trying to 'protect' me which could be a reason for the lower back pain. I booked in for 5 private sessions to see if Pilates would be able to help ease my back pain.
In those first sessions I learned some of the basic principles of Pilates but more importantly I learned about how the body doesn't always work for its own good! My muscles were trying to do one thing that they thought was helping to protect me but it was really just causing me pain. I needed to relearn how to use my body and how my conscious and unconscious thought processes could help or hinder this. Don't get me wrong it also involves quite hard physical work! I moved on from my 5 sessions to another 5 and started to learn the basic Pilates exercises with particular emphasis on those that would help my spine and allow the surrounding muscles to work in a less harmful manner.
Two years later and I'm still attending weekly small group sessions. I've learned lots of things about what my body wants to do incorrectly but now through a better understanding of how my brain and body work I at least feel that I am better equipped to work with my body as opposed to against it. I am now pain free although I do still sometimes get discomfort in my lower back but I have a far greater understanding of what is causing it and some ways of helping to alleviate it and keep it strong. Plus if anyone had ever told me 2 years ago that I would be able to 'roll like a ball' I would have laughed but now it (almost) comes naturally!
