Watch the Mark Higgins – Back Pain, Avoided Surgery, Got His Life Back Video Testimonial
Conventional and alternative medicine are so self‑absorbed that they often stop seeing the human being in pain and focus only on the “pain problem” as a billing code. That is embarrassing, and it needs to change. MedicinEvolution is calling for a dramatic ethical shift in pain care—one guided by science and by clients themselves, grounded in the reason most of us entered this work in the first place: to help people.
This post is an excerpt from a client case study. You wouldn’t believe what I hear every day from people about their pain stories. As practitioners, our responsibility sits above our modalities and old beliefs; we must be guided by science, act on evidence, and do no harm. I hope you enjoy the read.
“When I first came to Chris, I’d been in debilitating back and hip pain for about a year and a half. I’m a marine engineer and cyclist, and by 30 I was being told I had ‘the back of a 50‑year‑old’ and might need surgery. I couldn’t stand or walk more than 20–30 minutes without serious pain, and I’d already tried PT, chiropractic, sports massage, acupuncture, stretching, and core work. Nothing lasted, and I started to develop a real fear of making things worse.
From the first phone call, Chris’s approach felt different. He looked at how I walked and moved instead of just poking where it hurt. In our first session, he changed how I placed my feet and used my legs, and within a few days, my pain had already started to ease. We even went on hikes together so I could relearn how to move my body in real life, not just on a table.
Over the next few weeks, my pain dropped significantly. More importantly, Chris taught me what was actually going on in my body, how my nervous system was trying to protect me, and what I could do to calm things down and move better. I’m not 100% pain‑free, but I’m back at work, I can hike with my dog, ride my bike sometimes, and I’m no longer house‑bound or terrified of every flare-up. For now, I’ve avoided surgery, and I have tools to manage my pain myself.
If it wasn’t for Chris, I’d probably still be on the couch. He didn’t just work on my back—he gave me my quality of life back.”
