I no longer need orthotics.

When I first met Karen, I had no idea that she would change my life! In fact, I thought it would be the other way round. She had joined one of my writing clinics because she wanted to write a book about her unique Bodylogiq programme. One day, in conversation, I mentioned that I wore an orthotic in one shoe because I had one leg shorter than the other. A week or so later, Karen casually suggested that any imbalance might not be the result of differing leg length. I have to admit I was a little sceptical. She asked me to imagine what it might be like to not have to wear orthotics. I had got used to wearing them and didn’t think it was important. But, with that throwaway comment, Karen had sowed a seed.

I had had a history of sciatica/lower back pain going back to having been diagnosed with a slipped disc and damage to the sciatic nerve, at the age of 18. It didn’t bother me again until, my early 30s, I was pregnant with my second child. I was referred to a back-pain clinic at the local hospital and learnt core-strengthening exercises, safe lifting techniques and relaxation techniques, which helped me optimise movement to prevent pain.

A couple of years on, as I twisted awkwardly putting my daughter in her car seat, I felt a ‘pop’, and a sharp back pain. This time it was quite severe, and I needed a pain-killing injection to help me stand up. My medical history suggested that the lower lumbar disc had slipped again and gone back, and I was prescribed total bed rest. For a week I lay and slept flat on my back on a mattress on the floor, crawling up and down stairs to the loo. I remember thinking I might never be able to walk properly again. Thankfully, I did gradually improve, and I managed recurring sciatic nerve pain with ibuprofen.

Then, in my early 50s, having physiotherapy for pain in one hip, a physio asked if I’d ever been told I had one leg shorter than the other. A speedy consultation with a podiatrist confirmed a leg length difference of 16mm, and I was prescribed an orthotic, or heel lift, to wear in all shoes. It took about three months to get from a 5mm insert, increasing 5mm at a time, to the full 16mm orthotic, and was extremely painful. However, it did relieve the pain in my hip and back – I thought, at last, I’ve found the root cause of all my back pain!

It wasn’t until I started to really think about Karen’s question and what difference being orthotic-free would make, that I began to appreciate how it actually affected my day-to-day life. For example, the orthotic limited my choice of shoes – which, for a shoe-oholic, was tough.

I couldn’t wear sandals, shoes with a shallow heel back, or some styles of fitted boots. And when, occasionally, I bought the ‘wrong’ style because I adored the shoes, my foot would slip out as I walked, or I would wear them without inserts and suffer back pain later. What I had previously thought were slight inconveniences began to intensify into unreasonable restrictions.

The thought of normality was tempting. So, I started to work with Karen. Her gentle method using seemingly indiscernible movements, increasing incrementally week by week, showed evidence of change relatively quickly.

Within a couple of weeks, I was walking short distances without my orthotic and feeling no pain, and three weeks after starting the mobilisers, my hips were level. I gradually increased the length and speed of my walks, and I recently returned to my walking group and walked over six miles comfortably!

I have also experienced improvements to movement in areas that I hadn’t even considered when I started working with Karen. Her gentle modifications have helped my posture, and the pain I used to get in my rotator cuff in yoga has gone. I can now do yoga ‘cactus arms’ – lying with my elbows wrists and hands touching the floor behind me – something I haven’t been able to do for at least 10 years! And I went to plug my phone into a low wall socket, recently, and realised I was squatting! I was so excited to tell Karen at our next meeting!

What has made such a difference to me is not so much the awareness of the absence of pain, but the absence of awareness of my orthotic. This was vividly brought home when I put on wellies and suddenly felt ‘wonky’! I had forgotten I had fixed an orthotic in one boot to stop it slipping.

Reflecting on where I am now, I have a much greater understanding of how my body moves. Karen has not only helped me to get rid of all my orthotics, she has also given me a whole toolbox of exercises that I can use to tweak things myself when they come up.

Not having to wear orthotics has given me back my great love of shoes. I recently discovered a pair of almost brand new shoes that I had bought a few years ago but had been unable to wear because the orthotic made my foot slip out. And to celebrate the joy of shoe buying, I just bought myself a gorgeous new pair of low-heeled pumps in France. Oh, happy days!

Fiona Lafferty