How Megan beat stress and relieved pain

Despite intensive treatment from various therapists and specialists, Megan's back pain remained and at one stage led to her needing a wheelchair.

"Megan is a really driven person and she became really depressed. From training six or seven times a week she couldn't even do PE at school," says her mother, Lorraine. Eventually Lorraine started to look at more psychological explanations for Megan's continuing back problems.

"I read about a book about a system in America which had really helped people like Megan, I was determined to take her to America if that's what it took to get her better. But when I Googled it I discovered that it was being done just around the corner in Huddersfield."

Physiotherapist Georgie Oldfield has set up the Stress Illness Recovery Practitioners Association (SIRPA) Recovery programme which addresses the underlying emotional and stress-related causes of chronic pain.

Megan had been thrust into the spotlight after winning the ASA Elite Junior National Diving Championship in 2007 following county success as a gymnast.

The youngster then had to cope with the pressure of being spotted for Olympic training and her coach leaving shortly after her accident. This, on top of the pressure she put on herself to succeed in other areas of life, was found to be the actual cause of her pain. By following the SIRPA Recovery Programme, Megan was able to eliminate the pain and return to her previous activities within one month.

"It was incredible, Within a matter of weeks she was back on the trampoline and then started training again." However a diving accident in which she broke her wrist has made Megan reconsider her future.

Georgie commented: "All Megan's treatment was directed at a physical cause, yet despite the obvious muscle spasm and pain Megan presented with, the cause was stress-related. This is actually a very common cause of chronic pain and other unresolved symptoms yet if it is not addressed, patients will continue to have their pain just managed rather than resolved.

"The potential for this work is enormous, not only in the field of chronic pain, but when looking at occupational illness or in sport."

GETTING TO THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

The Stress Illness Recovery Practitioners Association (SIRPA) Recovery Programme, based on work pioneered in the US over the past 40 years, addresses the underlying emotional and stress-induced cause of chronic pain. Georgie Oldfield says her non-hands-on programme shows a 70 per cent success rate, often in those patients for whom other treatments have proven to be ineffective.

Georgie now treats patients from UK and Europe at her clinics in Huddersfield and London, and has started training other health practitioners to work in this field. www.painreliefwestyorkshire.co.uk