I am a mother of three young children with a degree in interior design. By nature I am an active, social, positive person who loves being with family, working, and spending time doing my hobbies. However, my chronic back pain changed all of that, and when I look back on how extremely bad things had gotten in my life, I find it hard to believe.
I developed chronic back pain with debilitating flare-ups. For two years I suffered continually and I ended up having two back surgeries. I tried physical therapy, and I was on pain medications, muscle relaxants, and anti-depressants. No treatment worked for me and I was rapidly losing all hope.
I got to the point where I couldn’t even move my limbs anymore. I was catheterized and finally became bedridden. My husband had to take care of me. I was depressed, felt worthless, and doubted that there was any purpose to my life. I lived in constant fear of pain and lost my motivation and interest in life. I felt like I was on the outside looking into my former life. I was simply not the person I once knew, and it was devastating. My life had become a nightmare.
When I got to the UI Spine Center for my evaluation, I really didn’t know if I could do the program based on my overall deconditioning. I worked hard on a home exercise program until I felt I had the stamina to do the Spine Rehabilitation Program.
I was really scared the first few days of the program but by the end of the first week I felt so much stronger and I knew I could make it. I enjoyed being in a group setting with other people who were also experiencing chronic back pain, because we understood and supported each other.
I never felt pushed too hard by the physical therapists and I found all of the staff to be people who were easy to relate to and people that I could trust. I was supported and encouraged to reach my goals.
In the psychology part of the program, I learned coping skills and I changed the way I thought about pain. I found out how to put pain on the back burner and I learned to largely ignore it.
I am so glad that I went through the program because I am actively living my life again. I still follow my home exercises, and in fact my whole family life has changed as we are now constantly on the go doing things together and we all exercise and eat better now.
If you have chronic back pain and don’t know what to do, consider calling the UI Spine Center. I really don’t think you could be much worse off than I was when I started the program and I am now living proof that the program works!
You owe it to yourself to at least give it a try. Don’t let your life pass you by, get out there and live it. My final words to you are, never give up!
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