Pain therapist launches new business membership
A therapist has launched a new membership scheme for people looking to combat persistent pain and health conditions.
Katie Rothwell Therapies, which was founded in Bridgnorth last year, is offering the membership model so regular customers can benefit from weekly pilates classes, group coaching for pain education and a Facebook group.
Ms Rothwell is a former RAF PE officer and launched her business after suffering back pain herself which was caused by her personal situation, including becoming a parent for the first time, her husband serving in Afghanistan and the change in her career.
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Since opening, she has welcomed clients from as far afield as New York and Canada for treatment for an array of conditions such as back pain, arthritis, neuropathic pain and long covid.
She said customers were coming to her after they felt they had nowhere else to, having exhausted the medical route.
Ms Rothwell said her business had seen a huge spike in clients due to people struggling to get the answers they needed.
She uses her own approach, which she calls 'BEAT pain' and which incorporates the mind-body concept of healing."I had back pain when my first child was one and I couldn't pick him up," she said.
"I was in the RAF as a PE instructor at the time and went through the medical system and had the obvious scans and was given the medication which resulted in me being unable to function and I knew that wasn't the answer.
"An osteopath recommended a video which sparked my interest in pain education and I was able to stop correlating between the scan results and my pain and my ability to move.
"My husband was in Afghanistan at the time and I was a solo parent so life was tough. My whole back and neck were in spasm and everything was hugely stressful.
"Through therapy it came out that I was experiencing anger and resentment towards my husband due to the circumstances as I had been forced to give up so much I love, including my career due to the pain."
She added that she undertook craniosacral training, which is an alternative medicine approach that aims to use the body's natural healing processes, alongside what she called "an emotional release" and has not suffered with the back pain since.
"That emotional component of chronic symptoms is massive and so unrecognised," she added.
"My clients can relate to my situation in so many ways - parenting and the difficulties that can bring, long-distance relationships and the burden and desire to be perfect as so many want to be."Medicine doesn't always have the answer but we are so used to turning to the NHS and other medical professionals.
"More and more people are now recognising the bio-psycho-social model where the biology, the psychology and the social factors all play a part in chronic conditions."
