I never thought that I’d be sad to hear that my knees are looking strong and I’m being discharged from the physio. This is because I never realised places like Isokinetic London existed.
My past experience of going to the physio consisted of a 15-minute chat about my knees followed by a few exercises that were then printed out for me to take home and complete on a daily basis. And that was that. Isokinetic is in a league of it’s own. They understand that even though you really want to be fit and healthy again, you sometimes need a little hand-holding to get there.
Stretching my calves after a cycle warm-up
The Italian-born company has been recognised as a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence and it has revolutionised the way physiotherapy is handled, with 25 years of treating patients.
I first met with Philip Batty, ex-Head of Sports Medicine for Man City FC, at Isokinetic, who after thoroughly looking at my knees decided that it would be best for me to come in twice a week for three weeks for two-hour physio sessions. This may sound extreme when you compare it to the sort of physio you might be used to, but after being an Isokinetic patient for five weeks I can tell you that it’s absolutely necessary. It helps that every single person you meet or do a session with is friendly, helpful, fun and like you, is there to recover.
Working on my balance at the Isokinetic London gym
After my third week of physio I had what’s called an Isokinetic test, which measured the strength and endurance in my quads and hamstrings. My test results were ok, but could definitely be better, with me needing to focus more on strengthening my hamstrings. After a follow-up appointment with Phil I completed a further four gym and field sessions with physios David and Matt, before undertaking my final test. The test looks at your functionality within certain movements, which are all videoed and given a score in a test report. The final score was the deciding factor as to whether I could be discharged or not. From the first paragraph of this post, you’ll know that my test results were good enough to be discharged.
What’s next for me?
I know that my knees are never going to be normal, with the hypermobility and Infrapatella fat pad (yep, I’ve got fat knees! 😉 ), but after being with Isokinetic and having such amazing treatment and advice from the experts I have decided to go back to adult gymnastics classes in the New Year. I have a new confidence that I’ve never had before. I used to get nervous about something happening to my knees even if I was just running for a bus!
I’m continuing with all of my exercises and will keep on strengthening these glutes and hamstrings of mine and maybe, just maybe, by the summer I’ll be throwing myself down a gymnastics tumble again doing a couple of somersaults!
The 13-year old gymnastics-loving me!
Thank you
I’d like to say thank you to Lucy who originally put me in touch with Isokinetic – without you I’d still be moaning about my knees, not really knowing how to move forward.
And of course I want to say a huge thank you to the whole Isokinetic team. In particular, thank you Mike for letting me into your home of physiotherapy, Phil for giving me confidence and showing me your amazing ‘kneeling on a fit ball’ skill, and David for making my gym sessions fun.
I’m sitting on the train on the way back from my last appointment writing this and actually feeling rather emotional.
Here’s to an awesome 2015 with some new gymnastics tricks under my belt! x