I recently watched how cold water therapy can be helpful for anxiety and depression it reminded me of the rest of the BBC program 'The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs' by Dr Chris van Tulleken and was wholly convinced by what was presented.
I'm often sceptical about these types of shows as 'entertainment', but given my own experiences with pain and the generic approach to pain, I couldn't agree more. For those sceptics reading this saying 'Andrew's only saying this as he is now a personal trainer!' let me explain my experience.
Here are the drugs, pain killers and anti-inflammatories, that my GP gave me a repeat prescription for when I experienced significant back pain about four years ago (turns out I have/had a herniated disk at the lower end of my back).
I used to have a stockpile of these as occasionally I got a flare-up, once every 9-12 months however these occurrences are getting more infrequent because these are my new drugs.
I bought my first three kettlebells, and you can probably tell which ones, soon after my initial diagnosis because I didn't have a lot of space and wanted something that helped my mobility and strength. Initially I self-taught watching various online videos and have improved my technique over the years with expert tuition and courses and becoming a Personal Trainer and Movement Coach.
I realised fairly quickly that the drugs didn't help; they masked the pain, and nothing was being fixed. I had been in a sedentary job for years, and sitting at a desk was literally breaking me. I needed to move regularly, but it was when the pain struck that I bothered doing anything about it. Am I wholly fixed, no, but I'm better prepared to bounce back quicker and more resilient, absolutely!
Andrew