Lindy, 60
Lindy Seymour, 60, is a mum of two and former Higher Level Teaching Assistant, from Southampton. Plagued by back pain for the last 10 years, Lindy believed at one point that she would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life…
Lindy can trace her back pain back to when she was caring for her daughter 10 years ago. Her daughter had ‘smashed’ her ankle in an accident and, while still living at home, Lindy had to look after her and provide full-time care for her for the following three months, including constantly lifting her on and off the sofa and toilet. These activities in particular placed immense strain on her back and set in motion the start of her back issues.
Four years later, and while living with mild back pain on a daily basis, Lindy developed sciatica. This followed a full-day of inset training at the school where she was currently employed, and was, Lindy thinks, the result of sitting on one of the well-known, small, plastic school chairs. The pain started to get worse over the following few days and then after just a week, Lindy could not get out of bed as the pain was so excruciating. She was ‘shuffling’ around the house, feeling like a ‘105 year-old’. It took her a good two hours each morning to get up and be able to do anything. She couldn’t go to the toilet as the pain was so bad and she often had to just sit, perched on the edge of a dining chair, just to get any respite. As a consequence she was signed off work for four months. Following an appointment with her doctor, Lindy was referred to the hospital for a scan which highlighted ‘significant degeneration of the discs in the lumbar spine’. This led to a referral to an NHS physio. The exercises recommended by the physio were not really helping and Lindy was prescribed strong pain killers to help her sleep at night. However, these made her feel terribly drowsy and ‘not herself’ and she was keen to wean herself off them asap.
By now Lindy was caring for her mother and had reached the point of feeling very depressed, convinced she would end up in a wheelchair for the rest of her life as a result of the constant pain. Searching on the internet one evening, Lindy came across the Back in Shape programme. She initially took part in the free trial, and was so impressed, she signed up. She has been on the programme for the past 12 months and seriously thinks she will stick with it ‘forever’ as it has helped her so much and believes it will support her into old age and help ensure she doesn’t end up bed-bound like her mum.
As a carer for her mum, initially Lindy was not able to complete the phased programme in the recommended time-frame as there was less opportunity for her to perform the exercises. However, after sadly losing her mum, Lindy is now determined to look after herself better. The more exercises she does, the stronger she feels so she has persevered as the benefits are too good to ignore.
Lindy believes she now ‘moves’ differently and is now far more conscious of her posture and how she moves when walking and running. She never thought she would be able to run again but is now back to taking part in Parkrun every week and recently ran 12km with friends – a distance she has not been able to do for the last six years. It was also the fastest she had run before as her leg and core strength has now improved so much as a result of the BIS programme. Now when she runs, she is much more mindful – she better understands how her body and, importantly, her spine works. She now imagines wearing a corset around her trunk which helps her maintain the correct running posture. Before she felt like she was just ‘plodding’ along, but the whole running experience is so much better now. She has recently entered a triathlon!
Lindy is keen to highlight how age is not a barrier and how people do not need to simply ‘put up with’ back pain as part and parcel of growing older. Even though she is menopausal and it’s common to lose muscle mass, Lindy is actually increasing her muscle mass as a result of the exercises she is performing daily. Lindy thinks BIS has brought light back into her life!
