ALEXANDRA by Herself
Cerebral Palsy
My story is maybe like that of any other kid with cerebral palsy who wants an active life; it meant treatments, therapies and exercises, centre after centre, hospital after hospital again and again and again. But for me at 21 years of age, more than anything it meant frustration.
Let me explain myself: You spend six hours in the gym practicing the movements, with the therapist/coach yelling at you because your walking at the end of the day is not right. The co-therapist tells you to try harder or says that you don’t pay attention. Meanwhile in your head you know and understand what you have to do, but you just can’t! And so it was going on and on, until I became so desperate that I broke down.
Then one day I decided to do some research on the internet and there it was, staring right at me “Advance, The Scotson Technique (TST) the new restorative technique.”
Eventually we got our visas and headed out to England. From the first time we came I liked the centre right away, great friendly people and lots of fun! One of the most important things I remember is that my dad and I even had time to do something interesting.
I have been doing this therapy now for two years and the improvements are amazing, my legs are straighter and longer, my balance is much better, my walking has become more rhythmical and I can walk at an even speed and in a straight line, something that was very difficult before.
My pelvis has opened up so that my whole shape has changed; I have hips for the first time!!
This means the hips rotate better in their sockets so I can now run a little really nicely, I can skip better and I can even kick my legs when I swim crawl. I can walk up and down stairs better and I can sometimes come down the stairs without holding on to the rail now.
For me best of all “I’M ON A SWIMMING TEAM AND COMPETING, SOMETHING BEFORE I COULD HARDLY DREAM ABOUT”!
Finally, last but not least, I realized that forcing and punishing my body is not the way: instead of getting all hyper about it “What you can’t do” it’s better to relax do TST and the surprise, surprise! It comes on its own.