I have just had a fascinating week working with athlete Sandra Gomez who was trying to recover from lower back surgery following a horse riding accident, writes Tom Heeley.
Her path back to fitness after such major surgery has been a long one. Despite the success of the operation, she struggled to walk and complete simple daily tasks for a number of months afterwards.
The American longed to return to her love of horse-riding but that seemed a long way off.
Sandra flew in from Miami to come to spend time with us at Function Jigsaw after hearing about the Gatherer Systems Analyser (GSA) – a unique piece of equipment that we offer to monitor client’s muscular capacity, and peak forces and times under tension.
Bespoke training programme
From these tests with the GSA, our therapists can highlight specific areas of deficits and strengths, then devise a bespoke training programme exclusively for the needs of each individual client.
We analysed Sandra’s lower body and noticed some marked differences in the strength of her right hip abduction and hip internal rotation, as well as left-sided hip adduction.
Following a week’s rehabilitation at the Function Jigsaw clinic in Wigston, her results increased significantly, sometimes reaching up to 129 per cent increases in maximum strength.
Sandra left us to travel Europe with her cousin before returning to Miami for further assessments with her surgeon and spinal specialist. She is due to return in early August for further specific rehabilitation.
Read more: Find out more about the Gatherer Systems Analyser
Read more: How seriously are you taking concussion?
