LOCATION: AUS
"I don’t just have my life back; I have one that’s more than I could’ve dreamed of"
I discovered in my mid 20s that my leg lengths had over a one-inch difference when I first stumbled, quite literally, into my current osteopath. This was a godsend in so many ways as without intervention my mobility now and into middle age would have been severely compromised. It also helped me to answer that nagging question as to how jean companies could get away with such dodgy manufacturing, for years I had always walked through the heel of my right jean leg, so it must have been the jeans right? To put it in a nut shell this has meant that I have learned to manage reoccurring shin splints resulting in stress fractures, obviously hip pain and restriction of movement (never ideal for a horse rider!), tendonosis of the hip, compressed and pinched discs in my lumbar spine, tracking problems with my knee caps, arthritic changes in my spine and knees and all the fun that goes along with it. I am very aware that many people do far more than myself with far greater restrictions and am grateful to be an able bodied person however for the sake of showing where I’ve come from I feel that listing these shortcomings helps to paint the picture. In my role as a PE teacher and coordinator, the restrictions that this placed on me affected me in many ways. I found not been allowed to run since my early 20s due to shin and back issues so depressing as it was something I had always relied on for both my physical and mental well being. Feeling desperate I decided last December to give my body one last chance at running. I (finally!) decided to treat myself as carefully as I would one of my horses if they were injured and if not successful would concede defeat and let go of the idea once and for all. Over months of building I was eventually able to complete 5km albeit slowly by Easter this year. ‘Completing’ being my word of choice, as I don’t feel having to wear compression socks for 48+hours straight, use anti inflammatories and being unable to so much as break a walk for days after each 5km constitutes success! Luckily for me, it was at this point where Jessica and the team at Rosehip Vital came in to play. I was so fortunate to have been selected in one of their competitions and even more so when they heard the story of Will and decided we both needed to get on board! I was so grateful for the chance and hopped off the phone to Jason in tears of hope knowing that now Will would have an opportunity I had been unable to give him at that point in time.
Fast forward 3 months:
After starting on Rosehip Vital I was successfully running 5km, then 8km, then 12…then 24km! I have just completed my first ever running event at Run Ballarat on the weekend. I completed the 12km in 1:00:53sec for 25th out of 82 in my section and 80th female out of 280. For someone who only wanted to be able to run 5km without breaking, this is a huge confidence boost and the fact that I’m constantly improving my times is even more exciting. I have not taken an anti inflammatory since starting Rosehip Vital, no longer require compression socks after runs and no longer have post run knee issues even after long distances. The only person more shocked than myself was my osteopath. I hadn’t sought his advice when deciding to run again as I didn’t want to hear his answer! He could not believe that my knees and back could hold up to such distances and was quite concerned. That was until he proceeded with our consultation and realised that my body is now not only the strongest it’s been since my early 20s, but the muscle I’ve been able to develop is successfully holding the rest of me together. Something it’s never been able to do! The difference in my recoveries is amazing and I can’t stop recommending Rosehip Vital to anybody who will stand still long enough!
To the team at Rosehip Vital, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I don’t just have my life back; I have one that’s more than I could’ve dreamed of. I can’t tell you what it means to finally be in control of my injuries and physical shortcomings as apposed to vice versa.
