Yours is not just a brave post, it is a necessary post also.
You are better off getting your problems aired, and like many of the others who contribute on here have already done, have read with empathy and given first class advice.
Many problems on this wall are not of a dissimilar nature, so much experience has been amassed by all who respond.
I found that reading many of the issues raised on this thread, while not about me or directed towards me, really helped as I was able to draw parallels. The experiences shared have been invaluable to me.
My life was somewhat a mirror of yours, as I found being run over by a fire engine when I was thirteen did me no real favours.
I was left with certain issues, but a bad back was really the hardest for me to overcome. But overcome it I did. I was able to compete at a reasonable level for numerous years, with all of my very varied sporting interests, relatively pain free.
I found the 'simple' remedies were the most advantageous for long term benefits. Time. Advice, medication, exercise, diet are all essential.
I did take pain killers, but there is no stigma attached to that. Nor is there any dependency, as they are not addictive They are not a 'get out' for the inferior. They are there to help.
I also used warm olive oil applied directly to the painful areas.
I sat in front of an infra red heat lamp, and could feel the warmth easing my pain.
Mostly, I did the gentle exercises advised by the physios. These people are trained experts, and are excellent and knowledgeable. Their sole purpose is to make you better. Which in turn will make you feel better about yourself. I appreciate the exercises they suggest are not of the kind you have become accustomed to, but they are designed to help you get back to the things you used to do. Not a quick-fit remedy, but it will be a lasting one, as what they do is repair your physical problems and re- build your confidence.
I actively continued playing contact sports until I was almost forty seven, and continued marathon running until I was nearly fifty six. Purely by doing the simple, boring admittedly, exercises they suggested, and also taking the prescribed medication.
It is a long(ish) path to recovery, but a worthwhile one in the long term. And that is the aim of the physios.
The weight, you will find, will start to take care of itself at this point.
Hair loss is a real git. But it doesn't have to be.
You are feeling bad about yourself at this moment, what with weight problems and lack of exercise. Hair loss to many men is a nothing event, to others, it is catastrophic. Like you, it was a major crossroads in my life.
I was twenty nine, and then, whoosh. I was a musician at the time, and baldness was not attractive to me.
It was my lovely mum who devised a very simple, but extremely effective way, of decelerating this loss.
Marjoram. Infused in boiling water, allowed to seep overnight, and the strained cold solution was ready for me to massage onto my scalp.
Bald men will worry. This worry tightens the scalp. This in turn starves follicles of vital blood and oxygen and prevents renewed growth.
Whether it was the Marjoram, or the massage, or the belief it was doing me good, I have no idea. But, one episode apart when I contacted glandular fever at the ripe old age of thirty nine and most of my hair fell out, again, I still have a reasonable growth of hair. And I am seventy at the end of this year, And, I also come from a long line of family with receding hairlines on the male side going back generations.
I have more still at my age than most did in their twenties. That is a fact, not a boast.
It is not to late for you, and I know talk is easy, but you sound a spirited person who desperately wants to be active as well as attractive to others. This, you can do.
That is your strong point, but also the part which is giving you so much, REAL, concern. But help will always be available on this wall. I know, for I have benefited greatly for a period now.
Lastly, I hope I have not bored you overly with this 'War And Peace' length response.
my smile to everyone for the day.
hope everyone is fine.
Make the most of the being waited on 
