“You have to accept where you are now and endeavour to regain or obtain new skills that you hadn’t had.”
Three years ago, Anna Selby from Sandbach had a head injury, a bleed on the brain following a fall after slipping on ice going in to work. Following this injury, Anna shared
“I had a number of difficulties in terms of cognition and physicality. It affected my balance, my walking and my speech. Everybody said I kept repeating myself, I struggled to find words, and I was very slow in thinking. I always wanted to write and I wasn’t able to write like I had previously been able to.”
Anna’s injury changed her life, she was advised by the hospital and her GP that because she had a bleed on the brain, it was notifiable that she couldn’t drive. Anna was advised to rest and take things easy and had to give up work which she really enjoyed.
Prior to this accident, Anna attended classes at Crewe Lifestyle Centre, however was advised she couldn’t do any strenuous exercise for a period, she could just start to do gentle walking.
“I was saddened that I was told that I couldn’t do all the classes that I had done for quite a period.” She shared.
“I completely lost confidence in my walking ability and socially. One of the things is when you are resting, my go to was reading, but I couldn’t take the information in, I couldn’t read like I used to, and I was very sensitive to noise and light and I couldn’t use the computer.
I live in Sandbach, and I love the bells from the local church but when I returned from the hospital, they used to cut right through me, it was really strange. I had a lot of pins and needles in the head and headaches.”
A few weeks after coming out of hospital, Anna was recommended to go to Neurophysio at Leighton Hospital, which was extremely reassuring for her, she didn’t know about
this before then. They reassured Anna that a lot of things she was experiencing was normal when having a bleed on the brain, things would take time to heal because the brain was swollen and there were certain exercises that she had to do.
Anna followed the Neurophysio programme, was told to take it very gently and undertake Pilates, letting the instructor know about her head injury, which she did at Crewe Lifestyle Centre and shares it was helpful.
Anna was recommended by the Neurologist to do a further period of Neurophysio. Noting improvements Anna had made, but still had issues with balance and coordination, and then advised her to continue undertaking physical exercise. It was recommended by the Neurophysio to attend the NeuroFit classes delivered by Everybody Health & Leisure at Crewe Lifestyle Centre.
Anna has been attending Everybody Health & Leisure’s NeuroFit Circuit Classes for a year and Bike Therapy for about 6 months.
Currently in the third year of her journey, she shares
“How I am today, is very different to how I was three years ago. It has been a journey, I have really had to work at it to undertake the Neurophysio and NeuroFit classes but I can see, mostly my friends and family can see, each year at Christmas time, we notice it, that there is a difference in how I am to how I was when the accident first happened.
I am still on the journey, I have still got improvements to make, I probably won’t get back to completely where I was before, but it has been great, at a mature level that you can improve.”
As a result of these classes, Anna has really improved in her walking, balance, talking, her ability to read and assimilate information.
“I am not back to where I was, I can’t multitask and I can’t be on the computer for a long time and I still tire, but I don’t tire as much as I used to. I am still slower in thought, and I can still struggle, particularly if I am tired with words, but my speech is much better and I have regained more confidence in walking, in undertaking activities and in socialising.”
If Anna was to get a jar of coffee out of the cupboard, she would suddenly drop it. Thinking she was clumsy, the Neurophysio said Anna was misjudging things because of the injury. When she first started throwing the ball in the NeuroFit Circuit classes, she had problems catching it, however having it pointed out and working on it, she is now much better at catching things, holding onto things and not dropping things as much as previous. Anna has also carried out exercises to help with her walking and to maintain balance.
“Give it a go, it is fun, it is enjoyable and it does make a difference over time, it took a year before I could see some change, and another year there was another difference, and even a third year there has been a difference.”
One of Anna’s GPs has recommended Neurophysio, NeuroFit and Pilates to people after seeing the difference it has made to her.
“A huge thank you to Crewe Lifestyle Gym, particularly Rachel, Chris and Matt who run the classes, because they have been so supportive, you are aware that yo
u are in a safe environment, they keep an eye on you and they do tell you when you are not quite doing the exercises as they should be done.
The group is very friendly and sociable. I really enjoy the Bike Therapy with Chris, whilst we are cycling he undertakes a quiz with us, that’s to help our memory and speech. Myself, I have got memory issues and others may have, but it’s fun and it helps us to remember things that we know, but we have forgotten, or we are not able to remember at that time.”
The other thing that Anna has learned is that it is an individual journey
“We cannot compare ourselves to one another, we are all on an individual path and we have good days and bad days and we have to go with the good days and go with what we have regained or held on to. I really enjoy both classes.”
Undertaking this programme and getting more oxygen to the brain, Anna is now able to start back writing and been able to have her own lovely dog, a rescue called Daisy, to help increase her walking.
Anna shares she was made to feel welcome and the people in the NeuroFit classes are very friendly,
“You were not made to feel that you are not able to do anything, they were taking you where you were at and helping you to move forward.”
Anyone feeling nervous about joining the programme, Anna shares
“I was nervous at first, I didn’t have confidence in particularly in the cycling, whether I would be able to manage the cycling class, so I have regained confidence that I would now go cycling again.
Also, about the use of the equipment, you are doing a programme that you know you are supported, at first, I worried if I put too much pressure on, it may cause another bleed or something. You know that you are supported, you know that you are with people who know what they are doing and know what you can do and that you need to gradually progress.”
If you would like to find out more about the NeuroFit programme with Everybody Health & Leisure, please click here or email [email protected] or phone the Everybody Healthy team on 01270 685589.
You can watch Anna’s story here and see the NeuroFit Circuit Class in action.