My back pain first started in 2020. It felt a bit out of the blue and wasn’t one particular exercise or movement that caused it, but rather an accumulation of various day-to-day stresses that my body was put under.

I have always loved exercising and enjoyed pushing myself to see progress and achieving my goals. I felt like I’d always tried to balance this with getting enough rest days and including lower intensity workouts such as yoga and meditation. However, it was probably inevitable that this constant activity, along with a love of long walks and having a physical job, would eventually lead my body to breaking point!

My ‘pain’ could be best described as an ache and stiffness through the lumbar and gluteus areas. At its worst it prevented me from being able to carry on with my everyday routine. Not only did this mean I had to stop exercising, but I also found that even standing and walking for longer periods of time became uncomfortable. I would have to stop what I was doing and rest or stretch my back regularly. So for someone who’s always been active and, at that point not yet 40, this was demoralising. It felt like everything that I enjoyed was being taken away from me.

It was at this point that I decided to search the internet for advice and this is where I found Ashley Ridout. After listening to a few of his videos and signing up to his emails, he reached out to me to see if he could help with my particular situation. I spent several months taking a break from my usual workouts and then trying to restart slowly, adding in some of the stretches and exercises that Ashley had recommended. However in my rush not to lose what I had previously gained fitness-wise, my pain would return and I would be back to square one again. I was getting frustrated that I wasn’t seeing any improvement.

It wasn’t until I read Ashley’s Low Back Pain E-book that I really started to understand what I had to do. The e-book explains the body’s anatomy in simple terms and the importance of working through the phases of recovery in a systematic way.

Since following the plan I have seen considerable improvement in my lower back. I still get days when it plays up, but these are getting fewer and I’m in a lesser degree of pain. I’m really glad that I decided to give Ashley’s programme a try as it has led me to a more positive point both physically and mentally. Not only did the e-book give me the physical tools that I needed and the process to follow, it also taught me to be much more patient on my path to recovery! Thanks Ashley.