I had been in almost daily pain from Sciatica since February 2021. In June, 2022, I had an MRI scan over my lumbar and sacral spine at Southlands Hospital. The result showed I have severe osteoarthritis of the discs in my lower spine which has caused the sciatica.
I was prescribed powerful pain killers but none of them helped to ease the pain, leaving me to spend hours every day lying on my stomach on the bed as that was the only position which gave me relief.
For over two years, I was unable to walk for more than a quarter of a mile and some days, I couldn’t walk from my bed to the bathroom or kitchen so used my wheelchair.
In July 2023, my neighbour visited Horsham Pain Clinic for treatment for trigeminal neuralgia which had become so chronic that she too had given up going out anywhere or even doing the garden which she had always enjoyed. When I saw the change in her face following her first treatment, I was compelled to Google the name of the clinic and to make an appointment for the treatment of my sciatica. I was hopeful of a good outcome having read a review from a lady who had regained her life after treatment for a similar condition.
My first treatment was Thursday July 20th with Leigh Robins. She treated the spinal nerves first then continued down my right leg and then the foot. It was a full hour of treatment that first time, and by the time I was dressing again, I could feel that much of the pain had disappeared. My second appointment was a week later and I was so pleased to report the difference I was feeling just from the first treatment. I was able to walk without pain from my house to the village shop and from the railway station to the clinic. I had also been up to The Royal Albert Hall for one of the Proms, which I would never have considered before that first treatment.
My second treatment focused on the leg where I was still suffering some pain, but probably due to my excess walking.
My third treatment was two weeks later, by which time I had been for a walk on the downs and to another Prom. I pinpointed the areas where I had felt slight pain during the two-week gap and Leigh focused on those areas
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The normal treatment plan is three weeks to assess how the treatment is working and whether further treatment is needed.
Leigh declared me cured and would have discharged me but I felt it was a little too soon and feared a total recurrence of my pain as I had been getting out and going places which I hadn’t been able to do for over two years. We agreed on a three-week gap before my fourth appointment. Once again, I was so pleased to report nothing more than some light pain in my leg and a touch of back ache which was a new symptom but fairly consistent with the diagnosis of osteoarthritis.
Following my initial three treatments, which probably would have been enough if I hadn’t feared the return of my pain, I had a few more with my last treatment on October 26th and I felt like a fraud as I told Leigh about all the things I have been doing since she gave me my life back. I could have cancelled my last appointment but my fear of a return to the pain I had suffered compelled me to ask for a general going over the worst area of my leg, just to top me up before saying goodbye and the biggest THANK YOU!
Debbie Keatley
Henfield (2024)
Debbie presented some severe symptoms due to the degeneration in her spine. This had caused her sciatic nerve to be compressed and she was in a great deal of pain. Using external neuromodulation I treated the main pathway through her buttock and down the back of her leg. She had immediate relief and subsequent appointments improved the situation even further for her to be totally pain free and able to be discharged.
Leigh Robins (2024)
