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and I lost most of the strength in my
shoulders and by early 2004 I began having severe back pains.
When I consulted my neurosurgeon, he advised against any further
surgery saying that the arthritis and degeneration of bone has
caused my back to be a "Mess". Since then I have looked to non
surgical care of my back. I still came to the gym three days a week
to do what I could to stay as physically fit as possible, but by mid
2004, the pain had become so severe that I had difficulty walking
any further than across the street before in became unbearable and I
had to sit or lie down.
Additionally, my very bone frame seemed to be changing and I had to
lower my head and bend my back forward whenever I tried to walk.
This is when you came into my life. I had known that you work with
men who have back problems and thought you could help me.
Your
method of treatment came as a complete surprise to me. Instead of
urging me to do more and more lifting of weights or working harder
on the exercise machines, as other trainers had done, you took me
away from that typical gymnasium activity and we talked. Your told
me about posture and the necessity of learning to properly stretch
and exercise particular muscles. After a few sessions you
introduced correct walking posture and placement of head, body, feet
and toes into the effort the use of stomach muscles, the position of
the buttocks and the angle of my feet when standing or walking. You
taught me how to sit down properly and to stand up from a sitting
position in a correct way. You talked, showed and demonstrated every
aspect of balancing one's body and said that eventually we would
talk about weights and exercise machines. Then when we did begin
using the machines you stressed accuracy of every movement and how
correct posture is far more important than repetition.
I have
tried to apply all the lessons you have taught and at this point
correct posture is simply something I automatically do, with no
thought to the various facets of posture such as position of one's
heard, stomach, buttocks, feet and so on.
Last week
my wife Beverly and I heard that "Big Band" would play in Dana Point
and we wanted to hear it so we purchased tickets and attended. The
music was great and there was a dance floor where couples were
dancing but I believed that I would never dance again. However,
sitting there listening to the music caused me to wonder if it may
be possible to get through a dance without later suffering. I turned
to my wife and said, "Would you like to dance?" She looked at me as
if to question my sanity but simply said, "Yes, that would be nice."
With that
we made our way to the dance floor, danced for one number and sat
back down. In that I felt no rush of pain, later in the
evening I again invited her to dance. This time we danced a bit
longer. We actually danced and it was wonderful.
I went
home dreading the pain that I felt would surely come but incredibly
there was none. We had actually danced for the first time in years
and we will now plan on going dancing again soon.
Ken I
give you a large portion of the credit for the fact that I can now
function almost normally in my business. I can walk across parking
lots, streets and if necessary climb stairs to attend a business
meeting,
sit there as straight as any person attending and no one has any
idea that I have a serious back problem. I now work hard five days a
week and enjoy a busy, productive, business and personal life and
yes, I can even go dancing ."
James
Sauls - Age 80 |
