"I refused to accept what my doctors told me, that I would be a partial cripple."

I received my B.Sc. with honors in Zoology from the University of Wales, Cardiff. I then went into research and obtained Masters Degree in Neurophysiology. I spent the next three years studying the pathways in the brain associated with vision. Neurophysiology is a unusual science because you also have to know a lot about electronics, anatomy, physiology, computer programming and half a dozen other sciences just to do the research and interpret the results.

Finally downsizing caught up with me. It's sad that no matter how much science and research we need there are never enough people or companies willing to pay for it. So I like many other scientists I know found myself out of a job and looking for a new profession.
I was more fortunate than many of my colleges, the diversity of things I had to study for my work made it easy for me to find a job as a programmer. Before long I was a systems programmer specializing in data security.

Both these professions involve sitting for long periods of time, either hunched over a computer or some electronic devise. This is the worst thing you can do to your back. Mine problem was badly exacerbated a childhood back injury which was unfortunately never corrected.
Eventually the pain became so bad that I could not sit for longer than an hour at a time and only then if I had a special chair. Sleep became something other people did, and the doctors stated that if I continued the way I was going that in a few years I would no longer be able to walk.

"I have come a long way from that sorry individual who sat up at night and cried with pain."

The doctors shook their heads said this was likely to happen anyway, but I could always have surgery when it got too bad. They had no other real help except this rather gloomy diagnosis.
I wasn’t willing to accept such a fate. I began to read extensively and search out other treatment methods. Some seemed to work, while others left me in more pain that I had been before I started. I refused to give in, and continued my quest for a life free from pain.

With little spare money to pay for treatments not covered by health insurance the process was often very slow. Sometimes I thought I had found the answer and life got better, but it never returned to normal, but it never seemed to last. After a few weeks the pain returned and life deteriorated once again. There were many periods when two hours sleep a night was the norm with the rest spent crying in pain and watching all night television - just the thing to cheer you up - and still having to go to work in the morning.

I bought every book I could find on back pain, subscribed to every newsletter that sounded remotely as if it would help. Every piece of junk mail which promised help or a cure was devoured. Over the years dozens of treatments, back pain courses, potions, supplements and devices were tried.

My background in the neurological sciences made it easier to evaluate the information I found, allowing me to reject some stuff immediately and focus on the material that showed promise. It was also very useful in detecting if a practitioner was ‘giving me a spiel’ (putting it politely) rather than any factual information.

Before long I found that my friends and associates were coming to me and asking advise for themselves, their family and friends. When people I had never even met started calling me and asking my advise I realized that I could help a lot of people if I wrote it all down. From this the first ‘Take control of your back’ was born.

"Now I enjoy my life."

How do I feel now?
Great! The techniques I discovered have helped me live a perfectly normal life once again. I can do everything that I used to do and enjoy every moment of my life.

Do I still have back pain?
Sure, at times. When I overdo the work in the garden, or I hike a hill too far or too steep.

Are there things I still can't do?
Well I haven’t had the courage to go white water rafting again yet. That's one I just don't want to risk. I don't ride at amusement parks either, but then I never did. I can't do the heavy digging the garden either - or so I tell my husband. Don't rat on me he might make me do it next year!

What have I done recently?

Well I can hike again. In the last four years I have:

• Hiked a 14 mile trail down and through Bryce Canyon National Park. Down to the canyon floor around and up again. If you have ever been or just seen pictures you know how lovely it is. You also know just how steep the sides of that canyon are. It was hard going but it was worth it.
  
  
• Hiked 12 miles down and across the volcano crater floor at Volcano National Park in Hawaii. That is some hike with all the steam vents hissing up around you. With all that sharp sand there was nowhere to sit down for the first 9 miles either. That night I slept well, no pain waking me at 2am, and no problems the next day - Unless you count sore feet, they get pretty hot walking across that crater!
  
  
• Spent all day hiking in the wet slippery Costa Rican Rain Forest. The forest was on fairly steep slopes and the footing was difficult in places. I was very tired at that end of that, but not enough to stop me snorkeling for a hour before it got to dark to see.
  
  
• Learned to dance, and spent all night doing the swing. Not a twinge the next day, although I was tired!
  

"I’ve got my life back!"

I refused to give in. Refused to accept what my doctors told me, that I would be a partial cripple.
I refused to allow my back pain to control my life. Now I am in control.

I have come a long way from that sorry individual who sat up at night and cried with pain, who could barely put one foot before the other to shuffle to the bathroom. That person who would twist and squirm just trying to find one position where the hideous pain would stop for just a few moments. I can still remember what it was like, and I wince now just thinking about it.

Don't let your back pain rule your life. Use "Take Control Of Your Back" to help you get back the life you want to live.