What the Papers Say
At Sheffield Physiotherapy we have pioneered the use of a revolutionary treatment for back and neck pain in the Sheffield area. This treatment is particularly beneficial for people who suffer from a longstanding back or neck problem that has failed to improve with other forms of therapy. A big part of what makes this treatment uniquely effective is its focus on treating the underlying causes of the condition and not just the symptomatic area.
These extracts are taken from some of the remarkable success stories reported in both the national and local press.
Mike Granger, a sales man from Hillsborough, says the PAM machine helped him to carry on with sport and avoid surgery.
He said: “I’ve always enjoyed playing football. One day I got a shooting pain in my thigh, it spread down my leg after exercise. My doctor said it was sciatica. I was in a lot of pain. I couldn’t get out of bed, I couldn’t drive my car”.
Mike, aged 30 became so desperate that he saw a specialist at a private hospital who sent him for a MRI scan. “ I was told he’d take the bottom disc out of my back. He told me it would be the end of days playing sport and I was gutted. I’d agreed to it, then I spoke to a lot of people who advised me to get a second opinion before having the operation. Friends recommended John. Within three or four sessions I was feeling a lot better. The difference was unbelievable. I cancelled the operation and now I play sport and I do everything I want to although I now take it a bit easier” he adds.
The Star Monday February 26 2001
“My medical showed I had a more serious curve which was about 40 degrees out of alignment. But the specialist at my local orthopaedic hospital said I didn’t need any treatment and it probably would not get any worse”.
Everything was fine until I was 27 when I started to suffer agonising pain in my back. I know now that the curve in my upper back had become so severe that all the joints were under enormous pressure, the muscles were in spasm trying to keep me upright which caused the ache.
The PAMM3 has four pistons which rapidly massage the joints of the spine. I lay down on a couch and she slowly passed the hand up and down my spine. The pistons moved endlessly and effortlessly to rock the individual joints and free up the stiffened segments. You can have treatment at different levels and speeds according to the nature and severity of your condition. After my first half hour treatment the pain eased immediately. After several treatments it had almost gone. Now I have occasional treatments but am back to full health.
Daily Mail, Tuesday, June 7 2005
I have lived with back pain since a moment of youthful foolishness on a Hawaiian beach in 1990 left me with a slipped lumber disc, which has degenerated steadily and irreversibly since, spreading misery and mayhem on the way. Like Tony Blair, I have had anti-inflammatory injections, I have had two bouts of surgery, plenty of spinal manipulation, enough drugs to open a surgery.
Four a pleasant hour I lay on Taylor’s table as he worked on my spine expounding his theories on back pain and treatment until he told me he was done.
I didn’t quite know what I expected when I got up. But once the dizziness had subsided I realised I felt no pain in my leg and no weakness in my lower back. But the real test was a nights sleep, I haven’t woken up without some degree of stiffness for 10 years. Until last Wednesday morning, and for the four days that followed and I can’t stop smiling about it.
Mention that you have a bad back and everyone insists that they know the only person in the world who can make it better. Having visited innumerable experts, I didn’t rush to follow a suggestion that I try Irene Phillips of the Backcare Clinic- the only osteopath in the UK to employ a Technology –Asstsed Micro-manipulation and reflex Stimulation (TAMARS) unit. However when Ben Hunt, a Financial Times writer, described the relief he had obtained at her clinic after 15 years of agony, I decided it might just be worth rising from my bed to consult her. Now I am in a position to insist that I know the only person in the world who can make bad backs better. The only downside of being cured, however is that I no longer have an excuse to take to my bed.
Less guarded, however is one of the country’s leading experts on back pain. Dr Paul Sherwood author of the best-selling book The Back And Beyond.
“I already have one of these machines and I’m using it on my patients” he says. “ it’s the biggest leap forward in the treatment of back pain I’ve seen in the past 15 years, and I don’t think there is any doubt it’s going to be a world beater”.
Daily Mail Tuesday, August 19, 1997
A car had smashed into the back of me and thrust me into the back of a lorry. The force of the impact had shot me back into the car behind again, then forward once more. Eventually I came to a halt wedged into the back of the lorry. My neck and back screamed with pain and I’d hit my head on the window.
By now I was getting desperate. I’d had to give up work and showing my lovely dogs. But for five long years I struggled by taking eight of the strongest pain killers every day just to cope.
I went for my fist treatment last July. The fingers of the machine were run along my vertebra towards the pain. It felt like little pistons gently pressing up and down my back. Afterwards I felt quite bruised, but my spine definitely felt a lot looser. After my second visit one week later, I walked out of the surgery with no pain, for the first time in five and a half years. It was incredible.
It felt like my spine had clicked back into place. The practitioner told me to take it easy but I couldn’t stop doing things as I was so pleased not to be in pain! It felt fantastic.
“As captain of the Scottish PGA in 1987 I had a very heavily committed year, including 64 pro-ams and five four-round tournaments” he said “I also drove 50,000 miles that year. When the season finished I wasn’t paralysed in the back, but I couldn’t play golf any. I’d be in agony for days and I stopped playing and concentrated on coaching. Over the years I had a couple of sessions with Tom doing the normal back manipulation. It eased the problem but it was never completely right.
“Now I’ve had a couple of sessions with this machine and it seems to have done the trick straight away. It’s a different way of manipulating the back and after the first session it didn’t seem a lot better but I returned three days later and after that there was a huge difference. I played golf every day last week and hit 80 drives on Friday without feeling a thing the next day.
Scottish Newspaper
Mother-of-two Julie Francis, 38 a part time graphic designer of Twickenham, Middlesex, had been plagued with back problems for 10 years before being treated with PAM.
She said: “Within three weeks the improvement was like a miracle. And after three months, I felt back to normal. Now, I can go to the gym again and also swim 40 lengths. I feel fit for the first time in years.
Sunday Mirror Sunday 10th Jan
After being referred to Epsom Hospital, the X-ray confirmed her doctors suspicions. Emma was diagnosed with scoliosis, curvature of the spine, where the spine develops abnormally and twists from side to side.
“I found PAM quite relaxing,” says Emma “It feels like a massage on the parts of your back that are well. When it working on parts that are twisted, it can be a bit uncomfortable, but it’s not painful.”
Emma found the PAM treatments not only reduced the gnawing pains she would sometimes get in her lower back, but also reduced the curvature. But she also know that her condition will have to be closely monitored.
“I get worried about when I’m old, but feel a lot more comfortable with my back now,” she says. “The PAM treatments seem to have flattened and straightened out the curves in my spine. I used to have a bump where my spine pushed out at the base of my back now it’s hardly noticeable. I’m not embarrassed any more. I’ll go to the beach and wear a bikini because I know no one will notice anything.”
Daily Express Tuesday September 25th 2001
It began about 15 years ago when I started swimming and doing a lot of driving – I suddenly got neck and both upper and lower back problems. It’s been dreadful ever since.
She used a “bionichand” –a handset powered by a computer. These pads operate in opposing pairs and align precisely with the vertebra in the spine. I starts very lightly and quickly; then goes slower and more deeply until you feel like the machine is pushing your vertebra into place, which felt a bit uncomfortable.
Did It Work?
I had six sessions over a few months; after five my back did look straight and it wasn’t as painful.
Would You Recommend it?
Definitely.
However, clinical trials confirm that even severe levels of structural damage are not a bar to recovery. When the overstressing is eliminated, processes of healing and remodelling begin. It is a phenomenon which has not been observed before because an adequate procedure did not exist.
The procedure now available is called Power Assisted Micro-manipulation (P.A.M.) and employs a bionic hand which has four fingers. While the therapist retains all the sensitivity and control of their natural fingers, bionics enables the therapist to work with an energy and speed that would otherwise be impossible. This tool was invented by Robert Taylor, a Cornish researcher in biomechanics who spent over 15 years researching the problem.
One client who uses the clinic is Andrew Mackenzie, who had been suffering from back and groin pains for about four years. The problems started in the scrum whilst playing rugby – he has played for Heriot’s for about ten years- and the problem had got so bad that it was causing neck pain, headachees dizziness, and he had to stop playing rugby as a result.
Despite having ongoing physiotherapy and acupuncture, the problems continued. Andrew tried TAMARS at the end of last year and after four treatments, the original pains disappeared, he has more energy and the headaches have reduced. He said: “I’d been for physiotherapy and so on in the past but found this is a completely different approach to back treatment
“I’d never seen anything like it. It really treats the original source of the problem and has made a massive difference”.
Stocksbridge & Newtown Gazette June 2007