Exercise for Lower Back Pain – Osteopathy

In 1996 I developed painful lower back pain in conjunction with a pinched nerve feeling on my left and right hip.

As my job entailed being on my feet most of the day, it soon became unbearable. Every hour or so I would need to lie flat on my back. This seemed to relieve the pain for an hour or two, though soon the same day it would return.

I went for X rays, they found nothing. I went to Physiotherapists and chiropractitioners too. Nothing seemed to help.

I noticed one day that my one hip seemed to be higher than the other. A friend suggested that my one leg was longer than the other and recommended I may need prosthesis in my shoe to raise and level my hip. I was then recommended to such a specialist who immediately noticed the uneven look of my hips. He placed a level on my hip and informed me that my hip was 15mm out. He then designed an in shoe prosthesis. It arrived two weeks later. I inserted the device and almost immediately the pain subsided. Infact It almost disappeared though occasionally it would return (once a month)

Every year the prosthesis would lose its shape and I would need to order another one.This went on for approx 10 years and the re-occurrence of the monthly pain seemed to be more frequent. I had a gut feel that the problem was either getting worse or that it was masking a bigger problem.

I eventually went to another specialist who took very detailed X rays. The result of the X ray was – your legs are perfectly equal in length and so are your hips. The specialist said I have some sort of muscular tension/spasm and that I need to go see someone who specialized in this field.

My goodness, the yearly prosthesis I needed to order cost me a fortune, not to mention it probably made the problem worse.

My wife recommended an osteopath she had seen. I called immediately; they were to busy and recommended Guy Ashburner.

I went to Guy and during my consultation he asked some pertinent questions other specialists had not.

He quickly came to a conclusion of what the cause of the problem was and recommended some basic stretching exercises followed by the temporary use of an exercise bicycle.He also said I need to throw away my prosthesis. This left me some somewhat anxious. How dependent I had become on this device.

Hard to believe the solution could be so simple. Well, I had nothing to lose and started the exercises and the cycling.

The pain went away within two weeks and I have not looked back since. That was three years ago. I have recommended many people to Guy and I often refer to him with friends as the man with the Midas touch, the Miracle man.

My sister went to see Guy. She had a frozen should pain of which almost a year of medication could not resolve, a few visits to Guy and the pills ended up in the bin.

Thanks a Mil, Midas Man.

Larry Berger


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