My pilates instructor

I have a pilates instructor - how Hollywood is that?! Well, technically she's a 'clinical pilates' specialist, but let me go back to the beginning...

When I was 8 years old, my older brother broke his arm. About a week later, I also broke my arm, which made for an interesting sight, the two of us in slings. After the plaster came off, along I went for physio, which is where I learned a very useful word for hangman. At 8, I thought I was very clever to be able to spell P-H-Y-S-I-O-T-H-E-R-A-P-Y, which I had learnt from staring at the sign in the waiting room (that's a crazy tendency I had as a young child - a fascination with spelling).

Ok, perhaps a tad far back for a beginning. Anyway, now twelve years on, I'm once again getting physio, this time as the next step in my journey to uncover the meaning of my chest pains. Many of you would know my predicament (cramping, debilitating pains that strike out of the blue) and my efforts to find a solution; visits to my GP, a trip to casualty, an ambulance from New South Wales (honestly, Dad!), ECGs, x-ray of my lungs, a cardio specialist, an echocardiogram (like an ultrasound...), osteopathy, x-ray of my spine, a bone specialist, (not to mention prayer and fasting)... and now physiotherapy.

I'd been thinking about looking into this option for a while now, and a conversation with a physiotherapist and her excellent recommendation of a centre has meant I'm finally doing something about it. Like each new step, I'm excited because there is the hope that the end might finally be in sight. I've had two visits, and what they have said has been very promising. I can already feel the results of some simple posture correction - it's really amazing! I'm really impressed by how they can see so easily where things aren't working. Just by watching me hop around, bend and stretch she's been able to point out where I have some instabilities, all the different parts these effect, and explain how we're going to fix it. It won't be an instant fix, but considering I'm already resigned to spend my life with these pains, any fix is fantastic!

You learn the most interesting things about your body when you visit all these specialists. It's a little embarrassing to find out that you can't move your muscles the way they ask because you're completely unaware of where those muscles even are or how they move! The most interesting fact I learnt was that I'm actual a 'mobile' person, meaning I have extra flexible joints... which has ironically lead to me being as stiff and inflexible as I am.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy ramble, but I'm excited about all this! (As you might have guessed.)