GH
investigation
Same pain, someone else’s gain?
Six years of chronic pain had Stephen Armstrong leaping at the chance to try a ‘clinically proven’ cure recommended by a Pilates teacher, but it wasn’t long before alarm bells were ringing
I f you’ve ever experienced chronic pain, this story will make sense. If, on the other hand, your body is vibrating with health, it might sound a little crazy. I have long-term problems with my back and sciatic nerve, and it sounds a bit mad even to me.
My pain issues were caused by an injury. I was running across the platform at Sheffield station when I twisted to change direction and a deep pain tore down my leg from my waist, then stayed there. For the next few months, I had to take painkillers so strong that I was given another drug to mitigate the side-effects.
Six years on, the pain is still with me. It’s not as bad and, with daily stretching and reformer Pilates, I can make it through most days. But I don’t run, I move carefully and if I don’t stretch out every morning, my day is shot. So, when a Pilates teacher suggested I try the MELT Method – ‘It’s designed to cure chronic pain’ – I imagined myself frolicking across the grass like a child in the sunshine.
A quick Google led me to a local practitioner charging the eye-watering sum of £90. ‘Just for the first session,’ she assured me. ‘And you have to buy these official branded balls for £25. And you should really buy an official roller, which start at £55, but the best one is £100.’
Chronic pain made me desperate. So, I paid for the four balls – two soft, two firm, about half the size of a squash ball – and we started. First, an assessment. I stood with feet hip-width apart, eyes closed, feeling where my feet touched the floor. I placed a soft ball under one foot and moved it backwards and forwards across eight points on the sole, then swapped over. My teacher told me we were hydrating my fascia. That was when alarm bells began to ring.