A woman who suffered from a curved spine for more than ten years has told how she was cured in just four weeks - with nothing more than exercise.
Rebecca Berry, 29, planned to travel the world after finishing her education but was struck down by a crippling back condition in her late teens.
By the time she went to university she had been diagnosed with scoliosis - curvature of the spine.
Rebecca Berry's curved spine before completing yoga exercises
For nearly a decade she wore clothes more than four sizes too big as she became embarrassed and ashamed about her deformity.
She refused debilitating surgery that would leave her unable to walk for nearly six months and instead researched her condition online.
Rebecca, from Downham Market, Norfolk, got in touch with experts at Scoliosis SOS and was stunned to find an exercise programme that cured her condition.
After a consultation she began their four-week treatment course of yoga-like exercises and massages and her spine was corrected within a month.
Rebecca is now planning to finally pull on her backpack and spend 2014 fulfilling her travel dream.
Rebecca Berry
She said: "My condition didn't just stop me from doing things from a physical point of view.
"It was also the psychological aspect that went with being diagnosed with what I felt could end up being a horrible deformity.
"I went from feeling normal and perfectly happy with my body, to being paranoid that people were staring at me.
"I felt like I couldn’t get in the water, not just because of the pain, but because I couldn’t bear people seeing me in a bikini.
"I feel like a new person now, my back is straighter and I feel like I look normal again. I have my confidence back and I am ready to travel the world.
"I am also looking forward to buying a whole new wardrobe full of clothes that actually fit me and don’t look like a tent."
Rebecca Berry
Current treatment for Rebecca's condition is to wait until the curve becomes so severe that surgery is the only option.
It means sufferers are faced with having metal rods inserted either side of the spine until it is fused solid in a straight line.
But leaving it untreated increases the risk of potentially fatal heart and lung conditions.
Rebecca, who has held a number of part-time jobs since graduating, said she is delighted she avoided going under the knife.
She said: "I was so desperate to avoid the surgery, I would have tried anything. I am just so lucky that I found the clinic when I did.
"Osteopathy and other treatments just didn’t work.
"They would help for about an hour and then the pain would return, I just felt like it was getting worse and my life was spiralling out of control. "
For further information on Rebecca's treatment visit www.scoliosisSOS.com