When this client came to see me he’d been in pain for a very long time. In his own words:

“I’ve suffered from back pain and knee pain most of my life. I have visited many therapists, and tried all sorts of procedures and strengthening exercises with little to no help.”

He told me that the pain was always there and affected his mood. He couldn’t exercise the way he wanted and felt like he had to protect his body.

When you look at his photo what do you notice?

His hip is leaning forward from his ankle, his upper back is too hunched, and his shoulders and head push forward.

I showed him the photos and said that we should work on two key areas. One, improve the position of his upper back, shoulders, and head. Two, balance the hips, even though he felt no pain there!

Working on the hips when someone has back or knee pain may seem strange. But, in my experience, to tackle theroot cause you have to look at how the whole body works.

Often, one part of your body is hurting because it’s compensating for another part that’s out of place. 

To get him pain-free, generic exercises would not be good enough. Instead, I chose several exercises specifically for him, to start aligning his hips and upper body.

I picked ones that matched his strength levels, and that he could do at home without any equipment. I also made them short enough so he could fit them into his daily life.

We saw each other about 10 times in total. At first, we met weekly, but later we spaced out our sessions. Most of the these were in clinic, but some were online.

During these follow-up sessions, I made sure he did the exercises correctly. I also gave him more advanced exercises as we progressed.

Over time, his posture improved and the pain reduced. Within a few months, it disappeared completely!

You can see the incredible progress he made in the photos below.

This improvement is not because he is trying to stand taller. That’s not what having good posture is about. Instead, his muscles keep his body aligned because of the exercises I gave him.

As well as becoming pain-free, he also now looks much better, and is less likely to get injuries as he gets older.

He was so happy to be back running and cycling pain-free. In his own words:

“The result has been mind blowing!”

I’m so proud of his transformation. It’s lovely when someone has a great attitude, puts the work in, and achieves amazing results.