Back pain has been a part of senior Raena Cain’s life for years.

“At first it wasn’t bad at all,” Cain said. “We would just go to the chiropractor every now and then, which made it worse.”

She continued to go back to get her hips realigned so that her back get back to normal for at least a bit. But soon after the start of freshman year, things got worse.

“In freshman year I saw my first doctor and I had my first MRI’s; they were hoping it would be just a stress fracture,” Cain said. “Because if it was I was just have to wear a brace and it would all be okay.”

When the MRI came back, Raena and her mom saw that she had a slightly herniated disk and a bulging disk right above, and she was sent back to physical therapy.

“I was very disappointed when I found out that all that was happening,” Cain said. “I found out I couldn’t do cheer as much as I wanted too.”

Cain had to then slowly quit her cheerleading because of her back.

“When all this happened I wasn’t able to do all the things in cheer that I would normally be able to do,” Cain said. “So when I tried out for sophomore year I didn’t make it by one point. Which made me more disappointed cause I loved cheer.”

Even with cheer cut out, her back got worse. At the end of her sophomore year she went to see a doctor and found out that she had a pinched nerve.

“The news just got worse and worse, but finally ended in surgeries,” Cain said. “I had one surgery which didn’t turn out right because bones they moved around turned out to grow and fuse with my other bones, so later on I had another preformed to put in a metal cage and screws.”

After two surgeries and lots of physical therapy she is back at school and walking around without help to classes.

“It feels great to be able to have no back pain now,” Cain said. “Though I am still restricted from a lot I am glad to be getting healed and better.”