When you are struggling with pain or an injury it can feel very isolating. That’s why it can be so reassuring to hear your practitioner or physiotherapist say, ‘I know what you are going through’. When you hear me say those words, I really do mean them. Not only that but I also know all too well the struggle of trying to find the right therapist.
Here’s why:
Back in South Africa I began my journey of treating muscle pain by working predominately with horses. This meant treating as well as training them through complex movements to rehabilitate their injuries. It was during one of these training sessions that disaster struck. After performing a smooth rollback into canter transition, ex racehorse turned patient, Approval, caught her overreach boot with her hind hoof causing us both to nosedive into the ground. My neck snapped backwards only avoiding a serious break due to the design of my helmet which has a peak that snaps off during this kind of force.
Scans confirmed I’d torn almost every ligament and it was a good few months until I was back in the saddle.
Unfortunately, as many of you will know, that wasn’t the end of it. Symptoms like the inability to turn my head, shooting pains, vertigo and, what I like to call “brain zaps” followed me and became especially noticeable after I moved to the UK the following year. When it got so bad that I was unable to look over my shoulder without severe neck pain, I finally bit the bullet and booked in with a private therapist. I remember feeling so hopeful driving up to the expensive looking building, thinking to myself “when I get back into this car, I’m going to feel so much better, I’ll be able to reverse and check my blind spot without gritting my teeth in agony”.
Unfortunately, this was not to be, after a quick confirmation that I was neurologically sound I was given exercises to perform with the machines in the neighbouring gym and was sent on my way. At this point I didn’t have a gym membership
and with an active job it seemed redundant for a handful of rehab exercises. This fell on deaf ears. Apparently, cable machines and a David Lloyds membership was the only way! I wanted to cry getting back into my car feeling exactly the same as before. So I went in the other direction and found someone with a bit more of a hands-on approach.
After arriving at the session and explaining my history and the pain I was in I was treated to a very lovely, relaxing back and shoulder massage. I was sure she would move onto my neck until she announced that the treatment was over and once again not a single finger had touched the area that was giving me so much grief. At this point I admitted defeat and forked out the monthly fee for a gym membership hoping the exercises would help. They did not and my neck became even tighter.
Not long after, I began my studies into Soft Tissue Therapy, and during my practical classes in Oxford I finally found the solution. Something that was the best of both worlds, knowledge about the injury and structured rehabilitation as well as a hands-on approach so that you feel better leaving than when you arrived. With a targeted, albeit painful, treatment to my neck, the tension in my muscles reduced enough to allow me to do the exercises properly and actually feel the benefit. It was the combination of the right ingredients that gave me the result I wanted. Like flour that, on its own, is bland and tasteless, but when mixed with butter, milk and sugar can make a delicious cake.
It’s hard to search through the sea of therapists, many offering a one size fits all solution on opposite ends of the spectrum. Your choice is scented oils and whale music or resistance bands and core exercises. That’s why I offer an alternative, for those who want to see what’s behind door number 3. I decided to become the therapist that I needed because I know there will be other people like me needed a solution. So, if this resonates with you, I hope you will get in touch so that your journey can end in success like mine did!
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