Client Success Story: From severe leg pain to 12km bike rides!

Today, Longevity Exercise Physiology Drummoyne, Edgecliff, Marrickville, Bella Vista, Randwick, Pymble, Neutral Bay and Balmain put the spotlight on one of our clients at Bella Vista who has taken advantage of the lockdown period to invest time into her health, and achieve outstanding results.

Joanna* initially came to us in early May this year after putting up with various long-term health issues, mainly caused by osteoarthritis. She had significant pain in her knees, wrists and ankles, lower body weakness and poor balance. This caused her to bump into things around the house. It was also difficult to climb stairs, get up and down from the floor and walk distances longer than 300 metres. On top of all this, Joanna was working a stressful desk job and looking after her children at home at the same time. This stress was causing Joanna to sometimes indulge in comfort foods such as ice-cream and chocolates, which contributed to weight gain.

Together, we mapped out a strategy to set her health in the right direction. We started with two sessions per week consisting of a variety of strength exercises, cardiovascular training, mobility work, balance and proprioceptive training. We were careful to not implement too much too soon, especially with everything that Joanna had going on already. Instead, we tailored the right amount exercise according to what she had on during the week.

Joanna was able to walk longer distances without pain and bike up to 12km in a day (which she now does five times week!).

Around the same time, we started to collaborate with the dietician Joanna was seeing in order to align her health goals. This allowed us to create an effective weight loss plan for Joanna at home in conjunction with her training in our gym studio.
Over the course of the next 5 months, Joanna demonstrated remarkable progress with her physical fitness. She has seen huge improvements in her leg strength and endurance. Joanna was able to walk longer distances without pain and bike up to 12km in a day (which she now does five times week!). She was able to get up and down from the floor more comfortably thanks to her increased mobility, and is managing stairs at home much easier due to her increased leg strength and balance. Joanna remarked that she felt more energetic during her day and had greater self-esteem as a result of her 6.8kg weight loss.

However, Joanna’s journey has not been easy. Since the lockdown in late June, Joanna moved onto online sessions. There were days with flare-ups, increased workloads and driving her children around. Despite this, Joanna saw the positives of the lockdown and made effort to dedicate more time for exercising around the home including biking, walking with her husband around bush tracks and utilising gym equipment she had at home. Joanna was able to take advantage of the conveniences of lockdown and overcome the challenges that many have faced during the pandemic. Currently, her next goal is to be able to finally come off her pain medications.

Let’s keep smashing those goals Joanna!

Contact Longevity Exercise Physiology and Personal Training at Drummoyne, Edgecliff, Marrickville, Bella Vista, Randwick, Pymble, Neutral Bay and Balmain on 1300 964 002 to get started on your health goals today.

*Name of client has been changed for privacy reasons

Written by Jackie Cheung