FORT WORTH, Texas -- A painful medical problem sidelined a champion ice skater but with the help of two alternative forms of medicine now she is back in the game.

Mary Nietlich said a case of bronchitis turned to asthma with coughing fits so bad it caused a disk in her neck to herniate.

"Last year at this time I was barely putting one foot in front of another on the ice," Nietlich said. "The disk presses on a nerve and causes this pain down your arm, and it was very intense. I would say on a scale of 1-10 it was a 9."

She tried the mainstream treatments, but the symptoms wouldn't go away.

"I didn't think I'd ever skate again," Nietlich said.

Frustrated, she went digging for a different solution and found it with Heather Rice, an acupuncturist.

"Acupuncture really helps with increasing the blood circulation in the area so it's going to reduce inflammation, as well as it releases chemicals from the brain that block pain," Rice said.

Nietlich said the nerve pain down her arm got better and then she began to work with Koren Barrett, a naturopathic doctor.

"We did food sensitivity or food intolerance test, and found out that she was eating a couple of foods in her diet that was activating her immune system," Barrett said. "With the elimination of these foods in about four to six weeks, she was able to get off her meds for the bronchial asthma."

With her pain and asthma gone, Nietlich went back on the ice again, and brought home the gold in a recent competition.

"I'm totally a proponent of Western medicine, but if you have something that's going on and on, maybe it's time to empower yourself and ask what else can I do?" Nietlich said.