Hi T-Nation,
I hope this is the right spot to post this thread in. I’ve been coming to the site on and off since about 2004. I was a teenager back then in high school. The forums have been very helpful to me in the past, so I figured I’d see if anyone here had any advice.
I’m 23 years old and suffering from severe problems with my neck, back, hips, knees and to a lesser extent my shoulders, ankles and elbows. I think the problem is kyphosis… when I google pictures of kyphosis, it’s like what I see when I look in the mirror. I have a definite anterior pelvic tilt.
I’ve been to my family doctor, who seems to refuse to consider any health problem exists unless he can prescribe some sort of drug therapy for it… all he wants to do is give me painkillers. He laughed at me when I said I went to physiotherapists, saying that ‘you look like you’re fit, you don’t need physiotherapy’. I’ve been to numerous physiotherapists, sports medicine MDs, chiropractors, massage therapists and even acupuncturists for this problem, but all I get is the same stupid cookie cutter routine they photocopy for me. I have a collection of them sitting in my desk.
The exercises just don’t help me. It’s mostly made up of static stretches, bridges, crunch variations and planks. And for the glute stuff… I can’t even get my glutes to activate in any exercise I do, it’s like they’ve shut off. My butt has literally become flat like a pancake… it’s just bone and fat at this point, and no matter how much I try to squat or deadlift, it feels like the only thing that’s being worked is my back - painfully.
My posture is terrible, but there seems to be little I can do about it. I try to hide it in public, but it makes talking to people incredibly awkward. I am hunched forward all the time, and despite my best efforts, it feels like my body is very heavy, and I’m compelled to lean forward.
I don’t believe I have any sort of underlying genetic or skeletal condition, but I do think the problem is a result of strain. Over the past two years I’ve shed almost 100 pounds of fat through cardio and lifting, and this is when the problem seemed to begin. I think I may have been overtraining… being tired all the time, hunched over a treadmill, the best I can gather is that perhaps my hip flexors became dominant and forced my glutes to sit on the sidelines? I’m not sure. I’m not a professional, but unfortunately, the professionals I’ve sought out have not helped me. I just wish I could find some definitive answers so I knew how and where to apply effort.
At 23, I’ve just, as of last week, dropped out of university. I can no longer function normally. My social life is practically non-existent now, I’ve lost my girlfriend, and I’ve reached the point where I can’t even carry my groceries home from the grocery store.
I’ve read every article on this site I thought might be relevant to my problem, and I’ve learned a lot, but I’m not an expert, and I need help. Does anyone know what I could possibly do from this point on?
I’d really like to have a life again.