News Gyrotonic - A best kept secret!
July 25, 2006 Gyrotonics a best kept secret!
A few months ago while skimming a Sunday Times Ecosse section I came across an article about Gyrotonics and someone called Penny Withers. As someone who has had significant problems walking and balancing for some time I was interested to read what it said about both.
In my twenties I damaged my back and had lost sensation in my left leg. In my thirties and forties I learned to live with it and to avoid things that would upset the old injury. However in that process I ended up getting completely out of alignment and consequently was more susceptible to other injuries thanks to the poor movement patterns I had developed. By the time I was in my fifties I sustained further injuries to knees and feet so that by the time I was reading the article the body hadn't just aged it was a wreck. It was twisted, the pounds had piled on for moving was so painful that I hardly moved. At 62 it was all but impossible for me to weight bear on my left knee. It was a struggle to get from a sitting position to upright. I could only do this by using my arms to hoist myself up. At the supermarket the trolley was more of a zimmer frame than a tool for taking the shopping to the till. When walking even a few steps I was tipping forward. It was depressing for I'd tried the allopathic medical approach, only to be given pills for the pain and limited physiotherapy. Not surprisingly this had yielded limited results. I'd been to a chiropractor but again the results were limited. Exercise in the gym was not only mindless but often missed because of pain. Many of the alternative health approaches helped a bit but none gave me the satisfaction of seeing genuine changes to my problems.
The article made me think and from there I went on to check out the web site. I liked what I was reading for it fitted with my own theories and beliefs that my problems could be helped if I could find a way of realigning my body. From there I contacted Penny and ten weeks ago started to experience a form of exercise that is making significant changes to my way of life. What care I that once a week I get up at 6.30 am so I can travel from the Highlands to Glasgow for an hour session of Gyrotonics and that I'm not home again until after 9.00 pm. You see now I can stand tall and weight bear on my left leg. There is significant improvement of sensation at the back of my leg. My movement patterns are changing, slowly but surely - and it's painless, even fun. Recently I climbed three flights of stairs at Cawder Castle when visiting with a friend. I can walk (slowly admittedly) the length of our village to the local post office without my leg giving up. No doubt soon I shall be able to walk the dog in the woods again. Well maybe only on dry, sunny days! Even my shape is changing as muscles that had certainly tried to join up with gravity are strengthening and working more as intended. I know there is a long way to go for it has taken a while to create this wreck but there is more than a glimmer of hope that by next birthday milestone I shall be neither housebound nor in a wheelchair. I'm not asking Penny to turn me into a graceful swan. However I shall be grateful to approach my seventh decade perched imperiously out of the cage with my wits engaged and able to flex all my muscles as intended.
In true Oscar fashion I would like to thank the following:
- The journalist who wrote the Sunday Times article
- Julio Horvath who created the Gyrotonic Expansion System
- My husband who encourages me to become mobile again (even if he does have an ulterior motive)
- and most of all Penny who is using her knowledge and skills to inspire, cajole, encourage this creaky, old body to achieve more flexibility, strength and mobility than it has managed for decades.
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