Then one day Nigel woke up and he couldn’t stand up right. The pain was excruciating. Nigel lost 3 weeks stuck at home struggling to do much more than the basics because his back hurt him so much. And he couldn’t get his normal treatments because of #Lockdown.

#Injuryrehabilitation and #prevention is a bit like #renovatinghouses. In order to succeed you need to strip it right back to a shell, #reinforce and deepen the #foundations before building it back up again. At Balanced Bodies we helped Nigel to strip back the layers of injury to tackle the issues causing the pain. It wasn’t a #quickfix (just like with old houses, it takes months and even years of neglect to get to this point) but it didn’t involve massage and adjustments. These feel nice but they can be like wall papering over the cracks (hint: the cracks are still there). Instead Nigel started with a daily routine of stretching and flexibility work. Little and often. This was part of the stripping back process. Once Nigel was “laid bare” we were then able to start building much deeper foundations.

Nigel initially didn’t like being told he needed to undertake exercise. He really just wanted us to #massage him. But once we took the time to break it down and explain the long lasting benefits to his #back, #bones, #mentalhealth, #cardiovascular system and #libido, Nigel was fully on board. Nigel hadn’t exercises for a long time, in fact he regularly joked that he couldn’t remember the last time he had seen his toes. But this didn’t stop Nigel. Because once he found a routine, and joined in with our virtual classes, he started to gain confidence in his body.

Each week, we celebrated the small steps of progress that Nigel made as part of his recovery. We were also there alongside him when his back got grumpy one Monday morning during a stretch, and we witnessed his confidence that regardless of this small step back, his back was strong, resilient and would soon settle down.

Now we don’t have some inspirational story of Nigel going on climb #MtEverest BUT we can tell you that Nigel continues to progress. He is happier, healthier and feels more in control of his life than ever. And he is no longer that hunched up shell of a man, moving like someone 30 years older. Instead he has a sparkle in his eye, a spring in his step, and faith in the deep foundations he has built. Recently Nigel has been talking about starting back up with Tennis. He stopped doing this some years ago because of his back…..

Moral of this story: Do you want to wallpaper over your cracks or do you want to build deep foundations?