Kathleen Kerrigan was leading an active life when one day she was stopped dead in her tracks by back pain. Recently, she wrote her story describing what happened and how, two years later, she is getting her life back.

In March 2002 Kathleen was working as an architect and keeping fit by doing cardio kick boxing 6 days a week. As she approached 40, she was feeling “at her peak, the best in years.”

                One day, while traveling, something happened. She doesn’t know exactly what. But she was hit by stabbing pain in her right low back. Three days later, the pain was still there and, in addition, she couldn’t walk.

A visit to a chiropractor yielded the diagnosis that her spine was ‘severely’ out of alignment. In the ensuing weeks, Kathleen visited other specialists, and her diagnosis was refined to ‘spondylolisthesis,’ broken and displaced vertebrae. The injury was estimated to have occurred during childhood.

                The pain continued, and Kathleen committed great resources to searching for relief, some weeks having 5 appointments. She felt some improvement until a setback in October. At this point, with the support of her husband, she quit working to give all her time to regaining her health.

                Kathleen was looking for an approach to well being through movement. Many of her medical advisors counseled rest, which made sense considering the pain occasioned by even the simplest activities. But for her the question lingered, “How could the body get well without movement?”

                In September 2003 Kathleen came to one of my Feldenkrais Method weekly classes. She really wanted the class to work for her, but after the first session--she felt worse. On reflection, she realized that she had done too much. She was so used to moving powerfully that she couldn’t immediately throttle back. During the second class, she moved more gently, and at the end felt a little better and, for the first time in a long time, encouraged. Two days after the second class, the pain was definitely less. After the fourth class, for the first time in 1 ½ years, her pain was gone.

                Kathleen is continuing with the group class and has also done some private sessions. She is gradually expanding her movement repertoire. She can bend and twist for daily activities, is walking every day, has started swimming again and has resumed light weight training.

                Kathleen feels that it is true that “our weaknesses can become our strengths” and that she has found a new friend that will be with her for life.

This has been the condensed version of Kathleen's story. Follow this link for the unabridged version: Journey of the New Me