When I first met Vanessa at Cathedral Osteopaths in Ripon I was in a lot of pain, with very poor mobility. My pain was mostly down both legs. I couldn't sit, I couldn't lie down, never mind do simple jobs like get under a kitchen sink to change taps. Everything was extremely painful and uncomfortable.
The problem started in early December last year but it progressed and obviously it got a lot worse. By March this year it was at its worst and my mobility became a concern. It really got to me mentally. At that point I was taking diazepam, tramadol, co-codamol and gabapentin. I don't know whether it was a combination of being in pain and the medication that I was on, but it was quite a struggle. Even with the amount of medication I was taking I barely got two hours sleep at a time, and my pain was at its worst first thing in the morning. I was very down for about a week to 10 days.
I'd been to a physiotherapist a couple of times. She told me manipulation wasn't going to help me and so I had an MRI scan which found two disc bulges and one disc protrusion in my lumbar spine. And then my wife found Vanessa's details online, so I made an appointment to see if I was suitable for IDD Therapy.
It only took one week to get an appointment for an assessment, and I commenced my treatment program the following day. I had IDD treatments combined with a few osteopathy appointments for seven weeks, plus graded exercise programs to help with my recovery.
It is two and a half months since I completed my treatment, during which time I have been taking it easy as far as I can, despite working seven days a week. I am feeling great, a hundred times better. Life's 90 per cent back to normal, whatever normal is! My work's a lot better, my home life's improved. Most importantly for me was that I avoided surgery. A pre-existing health condition meant that recovery would have been much longer for me.
