Margaret is a professional horticulturist in her late 40s and spends her days maintaining other people’s gardens. This means that she is on her knees weeding for a large part of the day, carrying heavy loads and doing back breaking digging among other regular outdoor tasks. Margaret came to me about 18 months ago because she was experiencing pain in both knees and elbows and weakness in her lower back. She was unable to work the hours she needed to and her income was suffering. She was in pain a lot of the time and taking pain killers and seeing other health professionals but was not getting the help she needed to relieve the pain and prevent it returning.
When she first came to see me, her main aim was to be pain free so that she was able to work longer hours but M had a longer term objective to remain pain free without pain killers. She was recommended to come and see me a sports therapist and was at first dubious that I would be able to help but having seen multiple other therapists she was at the stage of being willing to try anything.
I explained to her that the role of a sports therapist is not only concerned with sports but movement generally and how to help people move better, be stronger and enabled to move functionally with out pain or injury occurring. That is why many sports people work with a sports therapist because they are repetitively putting stress on parts of their body. The sports therapist works with them to make their movement more efficient and their body stronger so that they can compete at the highest level they are capable of. This expertise and skills can equally be applied to all physical movements, particularly repetitive actions that cause pain, injury and stress.
When I started working with Margaret in the summer of 2021 she was in a lot of pain and her knees, elbows and back were very stiff. We started working on a programme of exercises that would strengthen her back, arms and legs and make sure that she was moving in an efficient way. All the exercises are designed with her work in mind, for example we regularly do routines that involve carrying and lifting weights in one hand whilst using her core to stabilise lower back. These mimic some of the tasks she carries out as a gardener, such as carrying a full watering can. Focusing on strengthening or flexibility exercises helps Margaret with specific movements, particularly repetitive ones and movements that mean being in an awkward position for long periods has helped Margaret work more efficiently and keep aches, pain and stiffness at bay.
I see Margaret regularly to help her maintain strength, flexibility, and technique.
After managing the initial problems, working on the underlying issues and cause of the pain leads to long term fitness and ability to carry on leading the life you want. There is no need to carry on suffering from long term aches and pains caused by your work, lifestyle, or poor ergonomics. Call me for a free consultation and let’s see what we can do to help you live pain free.
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