In 2004 Sarah, 40, was driving along to meet her boyfriend for lunch, when she suffered a life changing road traffic accident which left her with incomplete tetraplegia, meaning she lost the use of her arms and legs.
“I spent nine months at Stanmore Hospital and had to have an operation to repair the break in my spine,” says Sarah. “As part of my initial recovery I received physiotherapy in the hospital every day. Once I moved back home to Ilford, I had to have the house completely refurbished and adapted for my needs. I live with my parents, who have been incredible supporting me, but I also need a live-in carer to assist with my daily routine.
“It wasn’t until 10 years after my accident in 2014, though that I found out about Neurokinex. This was completely by chance as I read a woman’s story very similar to my own in the paper and thought ‘wow I really need to find out more about them’. I was really hoping they could help me: even after all this time. I was offered a week’s trial and decided to continue my sessions. Once you leave hospital you don’t have much access to injury-specific information as a lot of the support out there is quite general. With Neurokinex, however, I felt that they are able to specifically cater to my needs due to their specialist knowledge and expertise.
“Attending the Watford facility has certainly made a huge difference and helped me in my day-to-day life. Neurokinex has such a huge variety of equipment which is fantastic and means no two sessions are ever the same. I enjoy my sessions immensely, it’s such a great atmosphere. I do lot of exercising on the plinth, which is helping me work on my weaker muscles and I’ve also used a harness so that I can perform weight bearing exercises all aimed at strengthening my muscles. At home I continue to exercise daily, which includes passive and stomach exercises, assisted weight baring stands and a gym ball to aide stretching and strengthening of my waist and sides. The benefits of boosting my circulation, being in a supported standing position and moving more freely are all really beneficial to my health, my bone density and skin.
“Training with Neurokinex has made me do a lot more work on strengthening my core, in turn, is giving me the ability to work on other areas. I’m still in my wheelchair and require assistance but it’s just fantastic knowing that I’m improving those weak muscles. I’m seeing little changes in terms of my muscle strength and ability: other people notice too and that’s really encouraging.
“My long term goal is to maintain good health by exercising there, getting a balance with all muscle groups and to continue to improve in order to reach my full potential. The team at Neurokinex has been so supportive and encouraging. I cannot thank them enough.”
