TENS

My name is Sheila Bond, and I am an artist, knit and jewelry designer, and an art teacher. I am also the mother of four sweet kids. In this blog post I would like to share with you my Gokhale Method® journey out of pain and despair. On May 6 2022 I severely herniated the spinal disc between my L4/L5 vertebrae. In addition I had developed bursitis in my left hip during the previous three months, I believe from sitting improperly teaching online classes. It happened on the Friday before Mother’s Day. By Saturday morning I could barely move and thought I might die or at the very least never recover. I ordered a TENS unit (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, a mild electrical current to give pain relief) from Walgreens, bought Salonpas patches too, and a walking cane. I took three Advil or two extra strength Tylenol alternating every six-hours hours. I had previously herniated my L4/L5 in 2015, and had a laminectomy (a surgical operation to remove part of the back of vertebrae, usually to relieve pressure on nerves.) That surgery had left me still in terrible pain. When I told the surgeon I was still in pain in my tailbone/sacrum area, he told me he could operate on my tailbone. I declined. Following surgery I also went to physical therapy for a year and a half. It gave me more pain than it took away.

I developed excruciating lower back pain in 2001. I was a tennis player, downhill skier, and a marathon runner. I was also under a lot of financial pressure in a stressful job as a consumer class action lawyer.  My doctor diagnosed me with a  herniated disc at L4-L5. He said that a piece of my disc was sitting on the nerve. I tried everything to stop my pain but nothing worked. In January 2002 I underwent a  laminectomy which removed some of the vertebral bone next to the herniation to make room for the nerve root.