A 42-year-old man arrived complaining of severe upper back tension and headaches which often resulted in him locking himself up in a dark room or vomiting. On average he had 3 headaches a week, and sometimes these headaches went on as a low-grade pressure for a few days at a time. This meant that a “headache-free-day” was an exception rather than the norm!
He complained that his back felt tight and he had some referred pain down the left leg and into the right hip. His right shoulder blade was continuously sore and he’d had some problems with the right shoulder joint which had been treated with cortisone jabs. To add to the mix he had some sharp pains into the left arm, heartburn, sinus problems and IBS and he’d been living on a type of muscle relaxant continuously for 13 years – he knew this wasn’t working for him but found he couldn’t sleep without it.
By the time he’d got to me he’d tried all sorts of techniques, but nothing seemed to give him any long-term relief. He was despondent and felt quite depressed.
After 3 BSR releases (over a period of 2 weeks) his headaches started to diminish in frequency. His back had become very uncomfortable at this time as the body went through a series of muscular adaptations and by the 6th release the pains into the hips and legs and withdrawn completely.
He realised very soon that the headaches worsened after heavy lifting on weekends and he started do be more careful with his lower back and picked up some of the lower back strengthening exercises I’d recommended he do.
5 weeks after seeing me he’d managed to reduce his dose of the nightly muscle relaxant and 2 months after starting BSR he had weaned himself off this medication completely. By this stage he rarely had headaches and was sleeping really well. His IBS and sinus had improved and he no longer suffered with heartburn.
He still comes in for regular monthly maintenance sessions as he leads an active life, plays lots of golf and occasionally does things that put stress the back, but his body has healed sufficiently that he’s able to cope with these stressors and his overall quality of life has improved substantially.
02-Apr-2013