25 Jun How I Healed My Chronic Lower Back Pain Naturally

My Journey from Chronic Lower Back Pain to Healing

I never thought I would be one of those people who struggled with chronic lower back pain. I was always active, and played sports since my childhood. But then, one day, the pain started.

How It All Started

The prolonged hours of sitting in front of a laptop screen with a non-ergonomic work station started decreasing my mobility and damaging my posture. Minor injuries from snowboarding and windsurfing also started taking their toll. My mistake was not listening to my body and pushing its limits too much. The pain took over my life and I started to have trouble sitting for long periods of time, and even walking could be painful. Having to stay away from my favorite activities started affecting my emotional and mental health and I was approaching a downward spiral.

The Diagnosis

Finally, I did what I thought was the best at the time and went to an Orthopedic Surgeon to get checked out. On April 3, 2020, my doctor diagnosed me with lumbar spondylosis (wear and tear of the lumbar spinal discs), degenerative disc disease and herniated discs. I was sent home with heavy pain killers, a recommendation for a spinal surgery and quitting my favorite physical activities. I was almost losing my mind. Those sports were part of my life that nourished my needs in many ways. Giving up on them meant to lose my soul.

The Turning Point

That was not an option for me. I couldn’t sleep that night and made one of the biggest decisions of my life. I was going to find the way to heal myself in natural ways and never allow pain to take over the quality of my life and disconnect me from things that brought me joy.

I declined all the heavy pain killers from my doctor knowing that they will only harm my body in the long term. My initial goal was to alleviate my back pain and then to heal to the point where I could go back to the sports that I loved doing. I visited several chiropractors and physical therapists along the way which contributed to my healing but my actual break through happened in another way.

What I Did To Heal My Back Pain

I went from barely being able to walk to a pain-free state with these changes:

NUTRITION:

The foods that I thought were healthy were triggering inflammation in my lower back pain. To understand nutrition better, I decided to study nutrition at the world’s largest nutrition school based in NYC – Institute of Integrative Nutrition. My mistake till then was to try to heal my lower back with local treatment, but after learning about the holistic approach to health and nutrition, I was able to bring the missing pieces of the puzzle together and finally reduced inflammation in my body.

LIFESTYLE:

I started with changing my work station. I bought a height adjustable desk, monitors replacing the laptop screen, and an ergonomic chair. Strengthening your body and improving your posture is key when tackling lower back pain. I created a daily morning routing that consisted of stretching, balancing, cardio and strengthening exercises. Especially, yoga and swimming helped me heal tremendously. I also gave my body a break to recover with improving my sleep quality.

MINDSET:

After multiple psychology trainings, I started analyzing my life. I realized that I was living a life fully disconnected from your authentic self, meaning not being aware of your values, purpose and strengths. As a result of this, I was trying to please others and had hard time saying “no” to others. I unconsciously was shrugging my shoulders due to feeling overwhelmed and taking too much responsibility. I didn’t know that stress can impact your posture and eventually trigger lower back pain. Thanks to my NLP trainings, I managed to learn how to unlearn the limiting beliefs, patterns and behaviors that were holding me back which contributed to my healing process.

Today, I got to the point in which I can do my favorite extreme sports without experiencing any pain. 

“You never know how strong you are

until being strong is the only choice you have.”

Bob Marley