Jenny Allison

Age is not a diagnosis.

But that's often the answer women get when ongoing pain doesn't have a tidy structural explanation.

We over 50s are not old or frail and we are not defined by the age on our birth certificate.

It's a label, not an explanation.

This is what I see over and over again, especially with women over 50.

One of the saddest things I see isn't the diagnosis itself.

It's what happens afterwards.

Over the years I've met so many women who've been told they have...

• A bulging or degenerative disc.
• Arthritis.
• Sciatica.
• Spondylosis
• Wear and tear.

A diagnosis is meant to help you understand why you're in pain.

It's meant to help you feel more confident.

But so often it does the complete opposite.

Women start to question everything.

They think twice before bending down.

They stop lifting things they used to lift without a second thought.

They cut walks shorter.

They avoid activities they enjoy.

Not because anyone has told them they can't.

But because they're frightened they'll make things worse.

Over time, life quietly gets smaller.

That isn't what a diagnosis should do.

It should help you understand what's happening.

It shouldn't make you frightened to live your life.

❤️ Has a diagnosis ever made you more cautious than you used to be?

I'd love to hear about your own experience.

So you can say YES to a walk on the beach ⛱️

Many moons ago when I was a baby physio I would give out exercises on the sheet of paper and just expect you to get on with it... 🫣

Now I don't!

Because I know its hard to follow a picture on a sheet of paper.

What if it makes your pain worse?

What if it hurts?

Are you doing them right?

And lets face it how does lying on a mat doing a bridge or hugging yoir knees to your chest help you walk without your back hurting?

To be honest? It doesn’t!

But if you would love to get out walking more and feel safe doing a few little movements and exercises that actually help..

Join me LIVE and there's no lying down!

Tuesdays & Fridays at 10am

🔗 in my bio

You've been told there's nothing more you can do.

Your GP said it's your age. Your Physio gave you sheets of exercises. Everyone has told you the best you can do is 'manage it'.

But that's absolutely rubbish.

Movement IS possible. Doing more IS possible. Getting your life back IS possible.

That's what Move With Jenny LIVE is about. Real answers. Movement that is safe. Doing it together.

Tuesdays & Fridays, 10am. Standing & chair options. £8 a class.

Come and see what is actually possible for you.

🔗 in bio.

What do you think?

Tell me in the comments!

Ladies you have been there you go to the physio tell them you back, hip, knee hurts. You can't even go out for a walk because you worry you can't keep up, or pre-loading with pain killers.

So you make excuses, too busy, too tired, planning lunch in the middle just so you can sit down ... when really there's nothing more you would love to do.

But all you get is a generic sheet of exercises that no one has shown you how to do, or even why you are doing it. No follow up and no real understanding of why you are in pain.

So you assume it's your age, your weight, your menopause... and it's something you just have to live with.

You don't!
Age doesn’t cause pain
Menopause doesn’t cause pain (it can make it feel worse)
Your weight... well I see and help lots of women who get better without losing a lb..

Sheet of exercises is not the answer!
Follow me or get my insights direct into your inbox ➡️ 🔗 in bio https://www.jennyallisoncoaching.com/different-perspective-emails

This is the price they pain to manage or avoid their pain.

Missing out on walks with their friends, gardening, sitting for a meal, long trips or holidays, playing with their grandchildren... even retiring early.

Life loses it's sparkle.

But it doesn't have to be like this. It's not their age, they are not degenerating and there is so much they can do.

I see amazing changes daily, in the women I work with.

It simply takes a different perspective 🫶

You can find out more 🔗 in my bio

I received an email today that made me both sad and frustrated. It was from a woman in her 60s asking me if there was anything I can do to help her with her back pain, that just isn't getting better, from a fall 5 months ago.

After a visit to A&E she had been told that she hadn't broken anything, but was 'badly bruised' given pain killers and told it would get better. However, after a couple of months she decided she should see her GP again as it hadn't improved, he gave her more pain killers and booked the physio. Physio told her the same as the hospital.

She told me that she didn't know where to go for help and had heard I help women with pain problems or should she try osteopath or a chiropractor? Understandable considering the physio experience she had.

Now healing from soft tissue injuries is 6 weeks so pain should be gone, or going. So why, five months later does she still have pain? We know that pain is essentially the best way our nervous system can protect us from harm. If it's a protection thing what is her nervous system protecting her from?

Well weeks of being unable to move freely can teach your brain that movement itself is the threat. Worry about hurting yourself again can keep the nervous system on high alert. Or maybe there is a problem higher in the back as pain can be referred from here and felt in the lower back, has anyone looked here?

This is what I see over and over again, especially with women over 50, the moment structural damage is ruled out, the search stops.
Even when it shouldn't.

It becomes so easy to label the pain as age. Degenerative changes or wear and tear that somehow is now causing pain, that it didn't before she fell. It's simply just no good enough.

This lovely lady, you and all the other women I see in this situation deserve more. I'd love to know, does any of this resonate with you, or someone you know?