What a Nerve​​​!

The morning everything changed

Picture the scene. I woke up one morning, no warning, no injury, just pain. Searing nerve pain in my neck, running down my arm and into my fingers.

I'm in my late fifties. I went to the GP. Diagnosis: an impinged nerve in my neck, likely at the C5 vertebra.

What followed was a long, drawn-out journey that many will find all too familiar.

Months of waiting​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ and waiting

I was placed on a lengthy waiting list for the Pain Management Clinic. In the meantime, I was prescribed strong medication, Naproxen and Amitriptyline.

Eventually, I was added to another waiting list for an MRI, and then, much later, referred for physiotherapy.

Months passed. When I finally attended a physiotherapy assessment, the outcome was exactly what I'd already been told: impingement at C5. I was given an oversized elastic band and a photocopy of some stretches.

I did the exercises meticulously. And while I did experience some improvement, I was still maxed out on painkillers, and the nerve was still impinged.

Despite all this, I was discharged. I had perhaps four or five physiotherapy sessions. No hands-on therapy whatsoever. By now, over a year and a half had passed.

Back to square one

The pain came back, down my arm, into my forearm, and fingers. The stretches weren't cutting it. Then, suddenly, my whole back went into spasm. That's when I truly understood what back to square one meant.

I saw my GP again (who, I have to say, was great). But the entire process had to restart. As if nothing had happened before.

A fresh referral to Pain Management. A new wait for an MRI. Another wait for physiotherapy. It was maddening.

Trying something different

At my wit's end, and feeling more than a little cynical, I booked to see an osteopath. Just a few days after seeing my GP again.

The osteopath agreed, it was likely a nerve impingement in the neck. But this time, something was different.

Instead of stretches and a photocopy, I received a full, professional assessment. The goal wasn't to manage the pain, it was to fix the underlying issue. To decompress the nerve and restore my body's biomechanics.

The treatment was hands-on. Deep massage. Physical manipulation. Every step explained clearly. Every movement purposeful. And after just one session?

I felt better than I had in years.

Back to life

Over the past 18 months, there were days I couldn't drive. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't even pick up my 2½ year old granddaughter. It was physically painful and mentally draining.

But after just five sessions of osteopathy, I'm completely pain-free. I've not taken a single painkiller since the first session.

Some things may sound trivial, but they mean the world to me. I can now do full neck rolls. I can stretch freely. When I reach for the ceiling, I don't just touch it, I push into it with force. That's how much flexibility I've regained.

I can drive. I can lift. My wife and I recently spent four days in London, walking over 17,000 steps a day, dancing at a concert. That would've been unthinkable just weeks earlier.

I'm still attending osteopathy, but less frequently now. I'm rebuilding strength, correcting posture, and getting fit again, after losing nearly two years of my life to nerve pain.

The NHS still hasn't called​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

It's been six weeks since I restarted the NHS process. I haven't heard a thing. Not from Pain Management. Not from MRI. Nothing from physiotherapy.

But in that silence, I got myself fixed, through osteopathy. Real, hands-on, targeted therapy. No waiting lists. No generic exercises. Just results.

I've written to my MP to ask why services like osteopathy aren't better integrated with the NHS. For me, it's been nothing short of transformational.

You've already waited long enough

If you've read this far, chances are you're in pain. You've probably tried the NHS route. You've probably been given some exercises and told to wait. Maybe you're still waiting.

Let me say this, as someone who's been there:

There is another way.

Osteopathy got me out of pain when nothing else did. It gave me my freedom back. I'm anonymous because I want the story to speak for itself, not because I'm hiding. If this resonates with you, take that first step.