By early 2023, I had completely stopped running which was very disheartening as it had been an important part of my physical and mental wellbeing for a number of years and at this point I was in pain almost every day. I decided enough was enough sought private physio treatment.

I was highly committed to the strength and stretching exercises that I prescribed and felt that I was getting stronger, but several months passed and I realised something wasn’t right - instead of the pain getting better, it was getting worse. I was having more episodes of stronger pain which were seemingly coming on randomly (not triggered by any physical activity) and in new places and new sensations. This really worried me.

Initially, I doubled down on my exercises, interpreting these developments as me not trying hard enough, but this triggered even more pain. I described what was going on to my physio and they said they weren’t sure what the issue was and that I should go down a medical pathway to have further investigations.

After several months I was able to have an MRI, which I was convinced would reveal the reason for my symptoms. However, the MRI came back completely clear. I hoped the Consultant Surgeon could explain but told me to ignore the pain and that it will eventually go away in a year! On the one hand I was glad that it was nothing serious, but confused as to what the issue was and angry that I felt like my pain had been dismissed.

It was several weeks later while I was on holiday in Slovakia with my partner (which had included an multi-day hike that I had to abandon because I was terrified my pain would become unbearable I’d be stuck on the mountain) that I discovered Nick via on social media. His words felt like they spoke directly to me as someone with chronic pain who had been through several iterations of conventional treatment with no avail.

Nick’s consultation was incredibly thorough compared to what I had experienced before; he took the time to both examine my biomechanics in a way no one had before, and listen to the details of my story. When Nick first explained the concept of neuroplastic pain I was initially sceptical but deep down it felt like a revelation that just clicked with everything I’d experienced to date, so I decided to dive fully in.

The treatment was completely different to anything I’d been through before but I found that going into it with an open mind was yielding positive results. I just a few sessions the severity and regulatory of my pain had halved, and by the end of 5 sessions with Nick I was fully pain free. I really couldn’t believe it had succeeded so quickly!

Nick went above and beyond to equip me for a successful return back to running, giving me exercises to strengthen the whole lower body. It’s been a couple of months now and I’ve not had any recurrence of symptoms; I’m incredibly grateful to Nick for helping me get back to living life to the full!

- SARAH