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New Year resolutions often focus on health and fitness goals – joining the gym or going more often; changing eating habits; or vowing to run a marathon.
But there’s a health and fitness goal that some may overlook – perhaps because they’ve already given up trying to achieve it.
Almost half (43 per cent) of the UK adult population suffers from chronic pain – in other words, pain that lasts for more than three months. And many are just gritting their teeth and baring it, unnecessarily, says Amanda Oswald of Edinburgh’s Pain Care Clinic:
“The most common types of chronic pain that I see in my clinic include back pain; headaches and migraines; neck pain; and face or jaw pain. Often the people who come to me have been told that there is no cause for their pain because nothing has shown up on diagnostic tests such as X-rays or MRI scans. They have also been told that they just have to live with their pain.
“However, in these cases the cause of their pain is often restrictions in the soft tissues – the muscles and fascia, which make up most of the body’s tissues. Common causes are accidents; injuries; surgery; scar tissue; and over-and underuse of muscles, whether through exercise, work, posture or stress.”
The impact of untreated chronic pain can be extensive: “At the very least it can cause ongoing discomfort; at worst it can be debilitating and prevent people from working and getting on with normal life,” Amanda explains:
“Generally, by the time people get in touch with me, they are at the end of their tether. They have usually tried a variety of medical and non-medical solutions, none of which have worked, and have often been told that nothing more can be done.”
Help at hand
There is light at the end of the tunnel, though, as she says: “I don’t believe you have to live with chronic pain. I’ve helped many people out of pain, often after months or years of suffering.”
Amanda specialises in helping clients through myofascial release, which she describes as a “gentle hands-on therapy that helps to release restrictions and return the body to a normal, pain-free state.”
She has more than 17 years’ experience of helping people with chronic pain. Recovering from injuries arising from rugby and marathon running led her to discover her true calling. Amanda left her office job and began her new career, by training as a massage therapist.
She is also professionally trained in anatomy and physiology, myofascial release and ScarWork – a ‘light-touch’ therapy that works deeply into the body to help release issues with scar tissue and adhesions following surgery, injury and some inflammatory conditions.
Some examples of incidences of chronic pain that Amanda has helped with recently include severe pain from a displaced disc in the jaw which impeded opening and closing the mouth, affected eating and disturbed sleep; chronic shoulder pain causing restricted movement; and lower back and hip pain following surgery for a prolapsed disc. In the latter case, while the disc issue had been successfully treated, the surgical scar tissue continued to cause problems.
Amanda says that her services are particularly in demand in January and February, as many people decide over the festive period that it’s time to take action:
“At this time of year, I most often see people who have had enough of their pain over Christmas and New Year and have resolved to deal with it.”
She adds: “I believe that dealing with chronic pain should be people’s top New Year resolution because it can seriously affect your quality of life. It can mean long-term medication, as well as inability to exercise or to sleep without pain.
“It’s never too late to add it to your list of things you want to improve in the year ahead.”
As well as offering one-to-one and online appointments, Amanda also offers online courses to help manage pain including explanations of chronic pain and simple self-care exercises. She is also author of Living Pain Free: Healing Chronic Pain with Myofascial Release and Trigger Points: Use the Power of Touch to Live Life Pain-Free (A Little Book of Self Care).
Credit: Rebecca Holmes Photography
