Client of the Month - Mat Dixon

This month we meet Mat. He has been a client of Fix since December 2015 receiving both physio and 1-to-1 Pilates sessions on his recovery from a prolapsed disc. Having initially been told he needed surgery we think Mat's recovery is a remarkable one.

Mat's Story

"I consider myself an active healthy person although the reality is I work at a desk and spend most of my day folded into a chair plugging away at a keyboard.  I work contracts and when I’m not chained to a desk I’m pretty active. I spend time volunteering overseas leading trekking groups of young people, and I’m in the mountains whenever I can be; walking, climbing and mountain biking.

It was during a recce for a new trek in Tanzania 2 years ago that I realised that the low back pain I'd grown to accept might be a little more of a problem than I’d realised. After a long bus journey and trek into the mountains my back was sore but more worryingly my leg was numb and took to 'giving way' without warning. I carried on uncomfortably but my big concern was that I had a mountain bike trip planned in the Swiss Alps a few days after I returned to the UK. Male bravado kicked in and I decided "I’d be fine", although I couldn’t actually carry my luggage or load my bike onto the train. Good friends and Ibuprofen got me through the trip although back in the UK I came to accept that I wasn’t fine and needed to do something about the excruciating pain I was in. I then spent a frustrating year waiting for NHS appointments and scans with very little positive outcome. Pain relief seemed to be the course of action, whilst I waited for nerve root block injections and surgery for a prolapsed disc.

This is where Fix came in, the physio sessions were like a breath of fresh air. This could be fixed. Layers of compensation from previous injuries were explained to me and a course of action laid out. I made subtle changes to my working life, a standing desk, regular breaks and moving more. Yoga and Pilates were prescribed and I booked in for 1-to-1 sessions with Natasha on the Pilates reformer. You may have walked through Fix reception and wondered what the strange torture garden equipment is in the Gym area. This is the reformer and with expert instruction is the reason I no longer need surgery or nerve root block injections. Natasha took me through a huge variety of movements, building, strengthening and stabilising my core. I immediately felt improvement after the first session and continue to do so week on week.

 My trip to Zermatt mountain biking this year was the best yet, I rode the hardest trails on offer every day with no pain and a huge grin on my face".

See one of the runs that Mat loved via some very cool GoPro footage here