Watching Natalie dance and some of the move she did makes me wonder weather she really has a back problem because the flip she did would of put her back out unless she saw a Specialist to get it sorted

Its seems strange to me that someone who had a problem with her back a few weeks ago would do moves that would strain the back even further and would surly need rest their back and not do anything to damage it more

Any thoughts

I'm with you on this but standby and prepare to be slaughtered by the Natalie Fan Club who will demand to know your medical qualifications for daring to utter such a slander.

And yet quite a few of the same people will happily slag off Abbey or Susanna. But that seems to be tolerated on here.

you lot need to grow up!

I'm going to hush

Just waiting for the comments

Oh yes you're right, slagging off Abbey, Susanna (especially the former ) is really tolerated here .

I think you'll find, if you examine the posts carefully, that Natalie's supporters have too much to do fending off the vitriol against her. It's the Natalie detractors who just want their own favourites praised.

To be fair, she didn't perform the lift or the back arch well but it seemed bizarre for Artem to put them in the routine given her weakness.

If it' s being masked by medication it might be being exacerbated if not felt at the time. She did look a bit less than her usual self tonight.

I think she was relieved to get through the routine.

Right, I want chapter and verse of where and when you gained your medical qualifications.

I have a back problem, how I manage it is very different to anyone else. I do not assume, speculate or make any medical diagnoses about how anyone else manages their back problem.

I do believe she has a serious back problem. I don't see why she would make it up. If anything she is trying to play it down with talk of 'exhaustion' for her reasons to be out last week. I think she is a beautiful dancer but she is running the risk of doing some serious damage to her body all because of a silly tv competition.

I am completely speculating but I think the 'exhaustion' thing is made up. To me her face when she collapsed looked more like someone doubled over in pain than someone who had fainted. When you faint don't you generally look quite relaxed? She was grimacing

I think she is playing it down as she obviously wants to win and is hoping to go on to do West End stuff (and why shouldn't she) and this back problem is jeopardising it.

I like her and think she dances beautifully, it is a real shame she has a serious back issue.

There is no way that her acute back strain would have been rectified in a few days..and in addition, the weakness would be made worse by continuing to dance. I have treated many clients with back issues and that sort of recovery is simply incredible.

Who says she's recovered? She's had an epidural!

Anyone who takes medication to block back pain is an idiot to carry on with any activity that can lead to further problems later on imo.

I not a medical Expert but I do know a few people who suffer from back Problems and they can't bend the back to do thing like Natalie

So you would consign me to a wheelchair in your eminent expert medical opinion. Because that is what it amounts to.

I either move though the pain or I cannot move at all. Funny thing is, I am following medical advice for treatment, which is to move about as much as I can, and it works very well. So I have many days of back trouble but no time off work, funny that.

Totally relevant post. I had has SO MANY casual strictly fans say this after the 'recovery' after the back problem to how she danced on the same week Saturday night.

We really need to be able to air such things. Also to be SO exhausted on Saturday and collapsing and then all tickety boo Monday morning and into training I genuinely find very bizarre. No more than that, no less, but I feel very happy at expressing that sentiment. Friends remarked to me re 2nites show what a poor response Nat got from the Blackpool audience and I had to agree - for the 'equal top' dance the reaction was very muted.

BiB They are not Natalie. So there is your answer.

That's a very strong probability..and the previous posters comment about an epidural...you don't just keep pumping pain blockers into your spine every day for weeks on end.

Just showed the excessive amount of practice time she was putting in was doing her no good at all. Hence the exhaustion.

If the performance was not as polished, then this could well be what she got from the extra training time.

Still so many have decided with no proof whatsoever that Natalie is faking, nothing anyone will say can change their mind.

May as well give the glitter ball to Susanna now, just as the BBC planned all along.

Hi there Mona. Not at all - but at the same token we don't need to 'buy it' either. I find both recoveries highly amazing. No more, no less.

I am not necessarily leaping to Natalie's defence, but I am leaping to the defence of clarity of thought, just in case this is a quality with which you would like to become acquainted.

At no point has Natalie or anybody speaking on her behalf or on behalf of the show said that she is 'pumping pain blockers into her spine every day for weeks on end'. Is this just your own hyperbole or do you have secret knowledge not available to anybody else? As far as I am aware, the information in the public domain is that, several weeks ago, she had a squished disc in her back and received an epidural steroid injection. Last week, she fainted twice on the day of the show and was judged to be suffering from exhaustion. She took medical advice not to dance that night and, under Strictly rules, was given a bye into this week's competition.

That's all we know. I am not a doctor but I have had back problems. What I know from that experience is that my bad back is not the same as my brother's bad back, my sister-in-law's bad back, my cousin's bad back, my neighbour's bad back, nor even Natalie Gumede's bad back.

Anybody who opines that Natalie cannot possibly be telling the truth about her medical condition on the basis of their own situation is plainly stupid. It is hardly empirical evidence, is it? All it does it show the pettiness to which some people will stoop to justify their own prejudice.

By all means dislike Natalie. By all means prefer another dancer. But don't just make up rubbish statements like this one and try and pass it off as something factual.

Thanks, said it much better than me.

Patrick had a bandaged arm for a week after than Natalie had a bad back and appears to be fine now. I'm sure he can still... write with it.