Within three months I was off my pills

IT TECHNICIAN Gavin newman, 44, is married and lives in Birmingham. GAVIN, then a singer, was on stage four years ago when he felt a twinge in his back. ‘The next morning was agony,’ he says. ‘It was like someone was pulling and stabbing my spine with tweezers.’

His GP prescribed strong painkillers, but the pain worsened and Gavin became increasingly anxious and distressed. With work impossible, he was forced to go on benefits and he was taking more and more painkillers — up to 30 a day.

His MRI scan showed his discs were degenerating, and a specialist said he might need surgery to fuse two vertebrae. ‘I felt petrified by the prospect. I’d also just turned 40 and thought I’d be on painkillers for the rest of my life,’ he says.

But in 2012 he was referred to the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham, where specialists explained how psychological factors, such as anxiety about pain, can cause changes that prolong it.

A doctor also examined the MRI and told Gavin it was safe to start moving and that he could get better without surgery. Just looking at a treadmill filled him with dread, but Gavin tried a few exercises and experienced his first sense that he might be starting to recover.

Meanwhile, relaxation techniques helped wind down his oversensitive nervous system. Within weeks Gavin saw a dramatic improvement. He was active, free from medication, and liberated from much of his anxiety. ‘I set a goal to come off one painkiller,’ he says. ‘By the second week, I had the confidence to do so. Within three months of finishing the programme, I was off all of them.’

By 2013, Gavin (right) was back in full-time work, though he still uses the techniques he learned.

‘Whenever I feel the onset of pain, I start to tighten up, but the breathing and stretching really helps.’