Super-fit personal trainer Steve Shreeve has spent his life keeping himself in an optimum state of physical fitness and has enjoyed helping others to do the same. Until recently he exercised daily, ran a basketball club and was once a high-level basketball player himself.
So, it came as a shock when he had to fly home from France, missing his best friend’s wedding, after finding himself with excruciating back pain after nothing more strenuous than a swim.‘I could barely sleep at night. I was surviving on around two hours sleep and was taking the maximum dose of painkiller just to get through the day.’
Steve kept himself in an optimum state of physical fitness. After an MRI scan, Steve was diagnosed with having two herniated discs, one of which also had an annular tear. ‘When I found out, I was devastated. Seeing what was going on inside my body, I was heartbroken,’ says Steve.
‘And I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to walk down the aisle at my own wedding later in the year. Lucinda [Steve’s fiancée] didn’t have her dad to walk her down the aisle so I was determined to do it with her.’
Steve’s GP referred him to a spinal clinic where the next step would be an injection into his back, and if that didn’t work, he will have a surgery.
‘I was not keen on these options because they may have treated the symptoms, but they would not have improved the condition of my discs which were the source of the problems I was having.’
It was a friend who told him about IDD therapy (intervertebral disc decompression), an innovative, non-surgical spinal compression treatment that focuses on targeted spinal segments.
IDD therapy machine works using computer-controlled pulling forces which are targeted to an injured spinal segment. By gently taking pressure off the affected disc and gently mobilising the joint, IDD therapy relieves pain and creates an environment for the body to heal itself.
IDD therapy machine works using computer-controlled pulling forces which are targeted to an injured spinal segment. Steve booked in to see Michael Palfrey, head of osteopathy at the Theale Wellbeing Centre which uses IDD, and as treatment progressed, Steve was able to go for short walks and was soon allowed a small workout in the gym at weekends. And by the time of his wedding he was well enough to walk Lucinda down the aisle and enjoy his honeymoon.Steve has now returned to his job full-time, and is exercising himself again.
IDD therapy is the fastest growing non-surgical spinal treatment for intervertebral discs with over 1,000 clinics worldwide and 34 clinics across the UK. Safe, gentle and non-invasive, IDD Therapy helps patients who need something more for their pain when manual therapy alone is insufficient to achieve lasting pain relief.
