Many readers may not be aware of this, but there is a condition that sounds like something very ordinary, but actually causes more disability in the workplace than anything else. This condition is ‘lower back pain’, characterised by a moderate to severe pain at the bottom of the back, which sometimes spreads to the top of the legs, too – in this case, it is known as lumbago or sciatica. You won’t have to search for long to find someone who has suffered extensively from lower back pain.

An employee at the BBC, named Beth, spent months sitting on an inflatable ball at work because sitting on a chair was unbearably painful. She described the pain as “horrific”, saying that the sciatic pain down her leg made it feel as if it was “on fire”. It was “excruciating”, and there was no position that she could adopt that would feel more comfortable.

Beth’s pain was not intermittent either – it was there all the time, with the first few days after onset described as “screaming pain”. In fact, the pain was so great that Beth wanted to either dose up on medication or just be unconscious, because enduring the pain was too much. After a while, she became “stiff as a board” and immobile, not being able to sit in a chair for three months.

As previously stated, she sat on an inflatable ball, only remaining seated for short periods until gradually the strain on the sciatic nerve was reduced. When asked if she was able to remain active during this time, she said that she wasn’t. The first few weeks in particular consisted of just “biting a pillow”, while the thought of walking was literally terrifying. To avoid the pain that came with even the slightest movement, Beth voluntarily became “frozen in space”.

Beth said her pain came from a ‘slipped disc’; more precisely, it was three discs “bulging” onto two nerves. It began with mild discomfort sensations after rising from bed and progressed over a few days as she started “freezing up” while the pain grew in intensity. And it stayed like this for several months; the pain only came to a level where it was bearable after around a year of treatment and hard work.

Lower back pain is disturbingly common, and can be devastating to your day to day life if you don’t seek treatment early. At Christopher Hole Training, we emphasise health and fitness as a preventative and healing measure for many conditions, and lower back pain is something we can definitely help you with. Take action on the pain in your lower back by getting in touch with Christopher Hole Training, and start on the road to changing your life.