Marie Swims Away from Stress and Back to Health

However, for 43-year-old Marie Lovell, the swim was all the more extraordinary, because just months before, the feat would have been near impossible.

A year ago, Marie suffered from debilitating lower back pain, believed to be due to a ‘massive prolapsed disc’ in her spine. Her pain was so severe that it had to be managed with a cocktail of drugs, including morphine and valium. Marie’s condition left her unable to stand up straight, unable to drive, and she even needed help to get dressed and washed.

After months of conventional medical treatment and traditional physiotherapy, Marie felt nothing was working and went to see pioneering Physiotherapist Georgie Oldfield, at the Pain Relief Centre in Yorkshire.

Georgie, the leading authority on stress illness in the UK, quickly realised that Marie's problems were more deep-seated than a slipped disk and diagnosed the cause as stress illness.

Georgie explains: “Often, chronic pain is actually triggered by stress, yet this is usually not recognised. Unless the true cause is recognised, pain can become persistent and severe. Once stress illness is recognised, however, because it is reversible, a full recovery is possible.”

Within a few weeks of undertaking the SIRPA (Stress Illness Recovery Practitioners Association) Recovery Programme, Marie was pain free and soon after was back to her usual activities; acting in an amateur theatre company and cycling with her family.

The transformation spurred Marie to complete the half mile-long Great North swim in May, to raise funds for mental health charity MIND, along with her 12-year old son, Tristan.  On August 13 she also then undertook a mile long swim in Loch Ness, having raised a total of £350 for MIND.

Asked what spurred her to take to the water Marie simply said: “Because I can. A few months earlier, I believed I would never be able to do anything more active than shuffle through a car park to sit down and have a coffee because there seemed to be no end to my pain.

“The fact that I am now pain free and able to swim and cycle again made me want to prove I could do it and also make a difference. I mean to carry on”, she added.

This year, patients from as far afield as South Africa, Dubai and Hong Kong have visited Georgie’s clinic, as she works to raise the profile of this pioneering and life changing work.

For more information telephone Georgie Oldfield on 01484 452500 or go to www.sirpauk.com.