My Mum has a collapsed vertebrae and is in constant pain. I was wondering if anyone knew of anyways of alleviating her pain.

Rachel

There is a mad woman up Burngreave Road who is brilliant with backs. Elizabeth Cardew, she must be in the book. My OH was scheduled for a back op but she sorted him out. It took a while and she is keen on posture and muscle tone working to take the pressure off the source of the pain. Worth a try.

McTImoney Chiropractic is also very good. There are a few in Sheffield but I cant find their details so this link www.mctimoney-chiropractic.org/interact.htm provides contact details of their association.

My osteopath affected my life so much I invited her to my wedding! Osteopathy, combined with a decent amount of exercise (yes, there are things that you can do to maintain fitness, flexibility and function- swimming, aquaerobics, yoga) and emotional support of all kinds have meant that I'm in better shape than 10 years ago despite degenerative disc disease.

This year, finding Iyengar yoga was an absolute epiphany in my life. I was told about a lady who does one to one yoga teaching, which develops into a therapeutic yoga class where everyone does their own routine and you really benefit from the group aspect. I touched my toes for the first time in 14 years a few weeks ago, and it feels great.

But I couldn't have done any of this without a TENS machine and good painkillers in the start. Get a referral to a pain specialist (not just putting up with what your GP gives you). Pain clinice offer far more than pills- everything from acupunture to counselling.

Accepting support from the pain clinic and others with similar problems can give you the confidence to try new things. Even if not all of the new things suit you, what do you have to lose?

Have you tried a TENS machine. My husband bought one for his bad back. Basically works by blocking the pain signals to the brain by passing gentle electric current across the skin, feels like a tingle. I use the machine a lot myself for period pain.
Its so good some women have used it during childbirth so it must be effective!

Hope you mum gets some relief from these suggestions.