Pain struck me about one year ago…and I found my life becoming more fearful, my days less active, and my mind and body becoming old beyond my years. A man of 33 years should not feel like a 73 year old. I started to develop low back pain which increased week by week and became quite debilitating over the following months. I was having trouble sleeping. I woke up in the morning and had pain walking for at least 20 minutes…could not touch my toes to wash my feet. I could not easily even put on my socks and shoes when getting dressed. I could not stand for more than about 10 minutes without having to sit down due to pain. I certainly couldn′t run and activities like surfing and backpacking were out of the question.

I have been a very active person throughout my life – running, swimming, yoga, mountain climbing, snowboarding, surfing, camping, hiking, diving – are many of the pursuits that I love…that have kept my spirits, body, and mind healthy and engaged. I have had an active job, fitting individuals with artificial limbs in clinical and educational settings, for many years. I found that both my recreational activities and my work were becoming more and more painful each day. The pain was placing more strain on my body, but also on my day to day attitude, my perceptions of relationships, my emotional state, and fear was creeping in more and more. How much longer could I do these things with the pain increasing? Will I be able to function in my work for how many more years like this? Will I ever enjoy the activities that I have loved so much for years? Fear…negativity…it creates something hopeless...

During this period, I was seeing advice from physician, osteopath, and chiropractors, who all told me that their speciality was the answer I had been seeking…relief from the pain…hope for a pain free life and a positive future. In fact, I found no answers with them and no hope of serious improvement. The physicians talk of drugs and surgery someday. The osteopaths believe manipulation and massage to be the answer. The chiropractors all think daily manipulation will solve the problems. No one could really give me a reasonable mechanical reason as to why I even had this pain. There was talk of L5-S1 disk thinning. But nothing was really ever confirmed.

About 9 months into the pain, and having developed a fully unpleasant outlook on life, my future, my lifestyle, I was lucky enough to meet with and have an evaluation by a McKenzie therapist, Sandra McFaul. She was able to access that my pain was coming from a malalignment of the spine…a loss of my lumbar curve and that yes, the disks were being distorted causing the pain. But the key to this meeting was in the instillation of hope and some simple solutions to resolve the pain in the short and long term. The hope was instilled by her assurance that this problem was actually not so severe, that many others have experienced this problem and found relief. The methods were simple for correction: rest, no forward bending, and two simple extension oriented exercises to repeat every few hours. Her advice, treatment, and kindness have helped me to resolve my pain through self-treatment.

The relief came quickly and only 10 weeks into my treatment, I was back to running, hiking, and surfing. I could wake up in the morning and wash my feet in the shower. I could put on my socks and shoes again without pain. I could stand and lecture for hours and hours for my job! I could exercise! I could be active again…I could smile.

Although I am pain free now, I make sure to maintain my postural exercises daily. I also need to watch my core strength to make sure that my pain does not return. And I need to watch my posture when sitting, standing, walking….

You know…the McKenzie treatments have worked very well for me. And I′m thankful that I received the treatment I did from Sandra. If not, I don′t know where my body, mind, and soul would be today…I have my hope and my life back now.

- Scott B. Elliott

Knee & Shoulder Pain Improved in 2 Sessions

I suffered from pain in my left knee and left shoulder on an intermittent basis for about 30 years and never sought any advice or help. I put up with the pain in the hope that it would just go away again. Recently the pain came back and it didn’t seem to be going away, in fact it became quite debilitating and a worry to me.

I visited Sandra McFaul at Active Therapy Australia who was very responsive and thorough in her examination and assessment of my situation. Time was taken to carefully explain to me what was causing the pain. I was given some exercises to do at home to address the problem. I must say that I was amazed at what some very simple exercises could do to address my problem and relieve the pain. More importantly, I now know the cause of the problem and what I can do to fix it without having to put up with the pain – a visit to Sandra brought me such relief and peace of mind!

Evelyn