How learning to swim at age 30 helped me overcome the chronic pain I’d suffered from for the past 14 years

In front of me in the pool was a man clinging to a foam raft for dear life. He kicked his feet furiously and splashed water on my face.

I tried to take a step back and sideways, but suddenly I found myself in the part where it was too deep to stand up. I panicked and grabbed my instructor’s shoulder.

Meanwhile, in the alley next to me, toddlers stuck their heads under the water and happily rocked their backs. If only I were so brave.

At the age of 30, I finally decided to learn to swim – and this was my first lesson.

Like a third of British adults, I never got around to it as a child. I was more interested in gymnastics. But I had little choice. It was my last ditch effort to find an exercise that didn’t leave me in double pain and after the painkillers I’d relied on for over a decade.

18-year-old Lucia Osborne Crowley, pictured, was diagnosed with endometriosis and later Crohn’s disease – both of which cause debilitating pain

I am one of 28 million Britons who suffer from chronic pain caused by a long-term health problem. In my case there are two problems.

In 2010, when I was 18, I was diagnosed with endometriosis, which is where the lining of the uterus, or endometrium, grows into other pelvic tissue. It causes severe pain and sometimes infertility.

And five years later, after six months of intermittent bowel problems and weight loss, doctors also diagnosed me with Crohn’s disease – an inflammatory disease that damages the intestines.

My entire adult life has been marked by pain, work-related illnesses and dozens of hospitalizations – most recently in the fall.

My Crohn’s is relatively manageable on steroid treatment, but if I get pain during an episode I have to take strong opiates like codeine and tramadol to cope.

I have long known about scientific evidence supporting the pain-relieving effects of exercise.

Last year, researchers in the US found that endometriosis patients who exercised at least three times a week reported less discomfort than less physically active patients.

The NHS recommends various exercise courses for people with chronic pain. It’s called social prescribing — a relatively new facility that connects patients with local activities, groups and services that can have health benefits.

I have to admit, when my doctor first suggested that physical education class would help, I laughed at him. How on earth was it necessary to cycle an hour a week to cope with two debilitating, chronic conditions? I tried though. And over the years I’ve also tried speed walking, dancing, Pilates and even weightlifting – all things that made my debilitating pain worse.

Swimming was actually the only activity left on the table.

A third of UK adults did not learn to swim as children (pictured by model)

I did some research and quickly came across studies involving patients with a range of conditions—from arthritis to spine problems and nerve pain—that suggested swimming offered unique benefits.

According to Professor Sam Ahmedzai, an expert in palliative care at the University of Sheffield and spokesperson for the British Pain Society, water supports the body, removes pressure from ligaments and joints and relaxes muscles. He adds, “You’ll also get all the benefits of the natural high that exercise brings, making you feel happier and more energized overall.”

Recent research suggests that the natural high from exercise depends not only on endorphins – the “feel good” hormones that the brain releases during times of physical stress and pleasure. In 2021, neuroscientists at Wayne State University in the US discovered that exercise also releases another molecule in the brain that has dramatic pain-relieving effects and reduces inflammation.

These molecules are the brain’s own version of cannabinoids – the psychoactive compound found in cannabis. Cycling, jogging and swimming caused this effect.

Ten months have passed since the first swimming lesson. During the second I managed to submerge my head underwater (while my aptly named instructor, Joy, kept an eye on me) and found that as long as I thought about blowing bubbles out of my nose, it didn’t wasn’t scary. .

Then came the actual swimming: the first breaststroke. It took a while for my arms and legs to cooperate, but eventually I did.

In third grade I was on a front crawl, which at first felt like I was drowning, before Joy taught me not to panic and to focus on my breathing again.

It was around this time that I noticed a difference in my body. My pain always went away when I was in the water, but this time the relief lasted for the next two days.

After the next hour it took another day and so on.

I now swim a few times a week, which has reduced my painkiller intake to about two acetaminophen every two weeks, and I rarely touch codeine.

I can usually do about 60 lengths without a break, or 40 when I’m tired. Last week, on a particularly calm dive, I was startled when the lifeguard blew his whistle and shouted, “Get out of the slow lane, you’re going too fast!”

I have never felt so proud.