Recovery story: Troy’s empowering journey to healing from chronic back pain

Meet Troy

I am 47 years old and I have had recurring back pain since I was 28.

The onset of back pain

In 1995 I suffered my first episode of back pain, which I thought at the time was a gym injury. I was doing a lot of squats and leg exercises to try and rehabilitate a knee injury from football. Just a few months earlier my girlfriend at the time had died after a short battle with esophageal cancer, obviously a very traumatic time, where I was her full time carer.

The scans from this injury showed that I had a herniated disc (L4/L5) and I suffered from debilitating sciatic pain for two and a half years. Over this time I saw numerous different specialists, 13 from memory, including doctors, physios, osteos, chiros and even a witch doctor. I also had the pain blocking cortisone injections, which didn’t help at all.

I was told by a leading sports doctor, who worked with an AFL club, that I would need a discectomy but avoided this procedure as I knew of too many cases where people were worse off after the surgery. However, the pain and restricted movement was one of the main reasons I resigned from my job as a police officer at the time.

After two and a half years the pain eventually resolved which I attributed at the time to the daily core strengthening exercises and visualisation work. I didn’t realise the connection at the time but it was also when I began dating my now wife, a time of happiness again.

Patterns of chronic pain flare-ups

I have since suffered regular bouts of back pain ranging from several weeks to several months in duration without an obvious physical injury to trigger it. However, on reflection it always occurs at times of high stress or grief. This included the unexpected passing of my younger sister and also of my father. I even had a flare up on an extended family holiday where I was sleep deprived for several weeks in a challenging family environment involving kids.

The scans always show a herniated disc and disc degeneration. I also suffer from anxiety, which I am sure doesn’t help.

My latest back injury occurred in February of this year not long after the passing of my father from motor neuron disease and shortly after relocating the family to country Victoria from Darwin, again a very stressful time.

This time my pain was so severe I often had to crawl from the bed to the bathroom in the mornings, couldn’t stand in the shower and had to lie in the boot of the car to go anywhere. I couldn’t sit down at all and could only stand for short periods of time. The scans again showed that I had a herniated disc, this time L5 S1 and disc degeneration.

The challenge of finding effective management tools

Again I saw experienced doctors and a physio specialising in spinal injuries. I took all sorts of medications, many with terrible side effects, and did all the suggested exercises without any relief at all.

After 3 months I stopped the useless medications and the doctor suggested I have the surgery as he believed the compressed sciatic nerve could be permanently damaged if it wasn’t relieved.

Fortunately at this same time I came across a yoga teacher on Youtube who mentioned John Sarno. I read his book and became very interested in the concept of TMS and the effects of grief and stress on the body. This lead me to other Youtube Influencer types who had similar stories and pain experiences, and how they healed themselves through the mind body approach.

Understanding the body’s ability to heal itself

I’ve always marvelled at the human body and innately believed it should be able to heal itself, but until now I didn’t have the right tools to allow this to happen effectively.

I adopted some of the principles of these influencers; movement (swimming), breathing, journalling and meditation and my symptoms in a month improved but only slightly.

Finding the Relio program

I then came across the Relio program. I found that this program also includes the practices that I was already doing, i.e. the breathing and movement, plus also provided clear concise education on back pain and had the hypnotherapy component.

I started walking (for me in nature was best) and even slowly jogging for short distances each day and followed the program closely. I also did a couple extra breathing exercises throughout the day.

Seeing results and improvements in pain management

Over the course of the 6 weeks my pain started to change quite dramatically. I noticed that it would flare up at times of stress (normally around the kids) but eased off at other times and that I could significantly control it with regular breathing exercises (usually 4-7-8) and short meditation or hypnotherapy practices.

I also noticed that the pain, although less severe, would move to other parts of my body and I had read that this can be good as it can be a sign of healing. The information in the program just made sense and the more I truly believed in it, the more it seemed to work.

After a few weeks I was able to start driving my car without pain for short trips and cook meals for the family, something I couldn’t previously do as I couldn’t stand up for long enough.

Getting back to meaningful activities

6 weeks later I was totally out of pain and I am now back at work on the tools, working physically, in my carpentry and maintenance business. I even did a return 6 hour drive from Mildura to Melbourne without any pain at all, amazing considering I couldn’t drive at all just 8 weeks earlier.

Now when I am stressed and can feel the little tingles/pains starting to flare up, instead of fearing it, which I know makes it worse, I know its literally time to put down the tools and relax the body with some short breathing, walking and meditation exercises.

The Relio program has been life changing for me. It incorporates all the tools that I believe will heal your back pain. And to be able to do this yourself without any medical intervention is so empowering and amazing.

I will continue to listen to my body and adopt these practices regularly for the rest of my life.