'It nearly ruined me' - Northampton hairdresser nearly paralysed by years of long days standing up in salon

Brooke Wright first started experiencing severe back pain two years ago but put it down to her job and being on her feet each day.

The mum-of-one started hairdressing as a Saturday girl when she was 14 and says backache was common within the profession.

But after she started experiencing shooting pains in her legs, the pain began getting so bad that she struggled to sit down.

Her symptoms worsened the following year to the point where she couldn't stand or sit and was forced to lie down between clients to ease her agony.

Brooke claims doctors initially dismissed the issue and said that because she was young the pain would probably get better.

Eventually she was diagnosed with a slipped disc at Northampton's Three Shires Hospital, where a lumbar microdiscectomy was carried out. Brooke was told that what she was experiencing could cause spinal cord compression and she was at risk of being paralysed for life.

Brooke reckons years of hunching over to apply foils and awkward cutting positions were the cause.

The 28-year-old said: “It was hairdressing that caused it, people say it’s one of those easy jobs you do.

"They think we stand around drinking tea, but hairdressing nearly caused me to be permanently paralysed.

“It’s not like that at all. I want to spread awareness for that.

“With something as bad as this they were asking if I had any major accident or injury, but it was literally just from abusing my back at work."

Brooke said she experienced aches and pains in her back even while she was a teenage apprentice.

She added: "My back wasn’t great even as a teenager from working in awkward positions in the early years.

“I would stand and do foils, which can take up to two hours in an awkward hunched over position.

"You’re putting a lot of pressure on your lower spine. You end up looking like a 90-year-old - it’s like a repetitive strain on your spine.

“My first symptoms were general muscle aches but then two years ago it got worse.

“I got an appointment with a private physio as I couldn't get out of the car, I had bad nerve pain.

"It was like an electric shooting pain down my legs. I couldn’t sit down for long."

Brooke began forking out £70 a session for a private physiotherapist but found the pain wasn't subsiding.

She was then forced to fork out a further £600 to fund a private MRI, which finally made her GP refer her to a neurologist.

She said: “They don’t take you seriously at all with back pain. All anyone said was that because I was young it would go away.

“If it wasn’t a spinal compression, which mine nearly led to, they don’t do anything about it they won’t do anything about it.

“They didn’t care, they just kept saying it will go back to normal.

"I had to pay privately for an MRI and the man doing it asked me what I'd done because it was that bad.

"He asked if I had a bad gym injury, but I told him it was just from doing my job.

“When I went to hospital after the neurologist said they would like to try something else, I was offered a spinal injection but that was an eight month wait.

"I was doing as much work as possible and then collapsing at the end of the day and that just wasn’t viable.

“I decided to go and get one of those injections privately and that cost me £850. I felt some relief but it lasted two weeks but then the pain came back.

"You’re in that much pain and you’re so naïve. So I went back to Three Shires."

Brooke had another MRI and was told her back was "80 percent" worse than previously and she underwent emergency surgery in April.

She had a lumbar microdiscectomy to treat a slipped disc that had come out of her vertebrae and was crushing the main nerve that runs down both her legs

Brooke, who runs her salon from her home, has had to pause bookings while she recovers from surgery after doctors urged her to avoid heavy lifting.

She added: “I’ve literally just started dipping into work again in the last week. I almost had to learn to walk properly again.

“I have learnt that I need to look after my back more, with pilates, physio, walking. I move my body a lot more.

"Spending nine or ten hours in the hunched position isn’t great for you, it nearly ruined me. I do think it is a wake up call for me.

“I really feel like it needs to be known. It can be the end of your career or even you being able to walk.

"I really think this needs to be known about as one of the risks for hairdressers. I didn’t even consider this.

“You don’t think it would be something so physical until you start learning about your spine and it can really affect you,” Brooke added.