Jayne Torvill health: Ice skating star left ‘crawling out of bed’ due to ‘severe’ pain

DANCING On Ice made a successful return for its 14th series, and once again the remaining celebrity contestants will return to the rink with a brand new routine hoping to impress figure skating champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. Yet, one year, when taking part in the show, Torvill was forced to hide “agonising pain” that eventually led to her needing surgery.

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Writing back in 2014 about the condition that could have easily ended her career, Torvill revealed that it was during the seventh series of the competition where she started to suffer from “chronic lower back pain and shooting pains in [her] leg”. After struggling with the condition for the entirety of Dancing On Ice, Torvill was diagnosed with a spinal cyst – a benign lump caused by a build-up of fluid in a tendon sheath or joint capsule.

“At the time, Chris and I were performing some adventurous routines on the ice. We had started working on a routine where I had to repeat an arched position, so I thought that triggered the pain,” Torvill wrote in The Mirror.

“The Dancing On Ice physio, who I have worked with for years, thought the pain could be due to general wear and tear, so I soldiered on for a few weeks.

“But the pain became so chronic that I was in absolute agony, even after a night’s sleep.

“Experiencing severe muscle spasms in my lower back meant I was literally crawling out of bed every morning.”

Jayne Torvill: The star suffered with chronic back pain due to a cyst on her spine (Image: Getty)

The star was running out of options and desperately needed a quick fix, but soon realised that strong medication advised by doctors was also not the answer.

“It hurt to sit down, too, so I took some anti-inflammatories to ease the pain. I was also told to take another painkiller at night, which was like a tranquilliser to help me to sleep. But it made me feel so out of it that I only took it for a few days.

“Having constant pain is incredibly tiring and, behind the scenes, I was really struggling. You almost feel depressed because the pain is there all the time.

“Even getting to the studio for rehearsals was a struggle and I had to get up half an hour earlier than normal as I couldn’t just leap out of bed and get dressed.