Peter Edwards - Chronic Back Pain

Peter was handed over to motive8 by a retiring trainer in order to continue his personal training. On Peter’s initial assessment, before commencing training, it was reported that he had suffered intermittently from lower back pain, which had progressively become more of a constant problem.

Standing for long periods of time had become a real struggle and the pain was both frustrating and exhausting. Peter had tried a combination of different treatments over the years but nothing had given more than short term relief and he had resigned himself to the fact that he was probably just going to have to live with it.

At motive8 we realised that Peter’s improving posture and movement was a key factor in tackling his back pain. Peter started a programme of Pilates and flexibility training alongside his normal exercise which significantly improved his pain but did not completely resolve it.

One of our therapists tried a different technique on Peter that he had not previously experienced – MET (Muscle Energy Technique). This technique involves the patient working with the therapist in different positions, using their own muscles to help gently realign some postural dysfunctions and release overactive muscles that may be contributing to them.

Peter felt an immediate improvement and continued to feel improvement each session over the following few weeks. The MET, alongside some deep tissue massage, proved to be a winning combination for Peter - he can now confidently say that his lower back pain has been resolved.

Peter continues to work on his movement and posture through Pilates and is able to exercise back at his usual pace. He also stands taller too!