Martin Richmond - Off The Painkillers & On With Life

Martin Richmond had always led an active life. But back in 2003 a horrible accident resulted in joint pain that saw him relying on very strong painkillers.

At just 40 years old, Martin was facing serious joint issues and big decisions about how to manage them, all while trying to do his job as a Construction Trainer & Assessor.

This is Martin’s story…

I’ve always been very active. I love hillwalking, travelling, sightseeing, and swimming. I do a bit of cycling and walk my dog every day. My job teaching young people how to work on construction sites requires a lot of physical activity as well.

In 2003 I had an accident when I fell off a wall and landed badly on my ankle, causing my foot to be turned 45 degrees away from where it is supposed to be. I fractured the bone just above my ankle and I’ve had to take strong painkillers ever since.

At that point everything changed. I couldn’t jog or walk without using painkillers to allow me to do anything. I’ve been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in that ankle. I’ve been told there is a lot of wear and tear of the cartilage in the ankle joint. In the morning it can be so stiff and really sore.

I was recommended by a specialist to have ankle fusion surgery, but there are a lot of potential complications that can come with it. So I turned it down. The surgeon who was going to do it told me if I can wait until I’m 45 by using the painkillers, then I’d be able to have a complete ankle joint replacement.

Taking the painkillers was not something I wanted to do long term but I had little choice. I’ve had a few check-ups over the years and been lucky that despite being on strong painkillers my liver and kidney functions have not been impacted. But the side effects of being on painkillers are not nice; they play havoc with my stomach and can make me feel very nauseated.

So I started looking for alternatives. I asked my doctors and they said there really wasn’t any other option. I started looking on the internet to see what might be out there and found FlexiSEQ on Amazon. I read the Amazon reviews and was amazed by what people were saying and how it had really helped them. I bought some to give it a try.

I ordered some FlexiSEQ Max Strength from Amazon and started using it twice a day. After about 10 days of use, I couldn’t believe it - I found I was beginning to walk normally again. I haven’t taken any painkillers for three weeks now because of FlexiSEQ. It’s made so much of a difference I’ve even started to go on light jogs.

I keep waiting for the pain to return and so far it hasn’t. The mornings have been amazing. My joint isn’t stiff when I wake up anymore. I'm able to get up, pain free, take the dog for a walk and then come back to put on my FlexiSEQ. It’s been so effective at taking away the pain. My hope is I won’t need the joint replacement surgery.