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Rehab Work

I specialise in rehab based around soft tissue therapy and kettle bells. To explain why I do this I want to tell you my story, and how I came to be on top of the mountain.

In 1999 I prolapsed a disc in my lower back, conventional treatments, physio, spinal manipulations, ultrasound and core stability put me back in the gym after six months, but I still suffered symptoms for some 18 months.

About a year or two later I started getting twinges in my lower back, I did what we all do rest for a while take pain killers and under took conventional rehab regime and carried on with my life, in retrospect I should have known better, should have spotted the signs!

By October I was confined to the settee, could barely walk two-steps, had lost 25lb body weight and was begging my consultant to operate. I did eventually have an epidural under anaesthetic (due to the fact I was in to much pain to climb onto the operating table) and together with medication, some mobility returned, and the bad news however was told to avoid heavy weight bearing exercise. I had gotten to the point where I thought that I would never be able to train again and considered that I would be barely able to work full time not good seeing as I am self employed, (no one else will put up with me). I was well messed up.

In comes the Internet and a research programme, I simply wasn't going to give up. I read up on anything to do with the spine and its rehab. During this research I came across my now beloved kettle bells. I had read lots of reports where people claimed to have cured their backs with this cannonball with a handle on it. To say I was sceptical would be an understatement, anyhow I ordered my first kettle bell and went back to the Internet to do more research. By now I was doing some physioball work, by this I mean I was simply lying over the ball trying to mobilise my back. I was now off the morphine based medication, I was icing my back every hour religiously, and waiting for my bell and this miracle cure to arrive.

The great day arrived; the bell was in my hands. I read and reread the instruction book, come on how hard could it be to swing 16k about, bad back not withstanding. First and foremost I was shocked to find how much strength I had lost, I could barely pick the damm thing up. So to rehab, I started on the landing at home, just doing swings and more swings. I was stunned to find how this simply little exercise had me sweating and breathing like a man possessed. I spent weeks doing nothing else. I soon found that my back was improving to the point where I was able to buy a pull up and dipping station, which, I use to hanging upside down (inversion) to stretch my back after a bell session. I gradually worked up to squatting with the 16k hanging between my legs; (due to my inactivity my right and affected leg had withered to almost nothing), and sets of swings. My fitness, strength and back were improving by the day, the bell was doing its magic. I continued to research this phenomenon and still am to this day.

I believe the kettlebell's unique properties whilst being used; make the bodywork in very beneficial ways. I say unique compared to the likes of dumbbell although with which you can do many of the same exercises, (for god sake you can swing a bucket after all). Dumbbells simply do not move around the hand in the same manner and do not off set their weight the same. Which is why I think the a bell is so exceptional in rehab circumstances. They make the body work; you cannot hide from them like you can do conventional core exercises - I know I used to teach core classes. With the kettle bell, the body is upright and functioning, as it should not being supported by the floor. The other benefits from the bells are:

• All over body conditioning. The body is one unit, and should be treated as such - you cannot isolate any muscle.
• They teach you to squat correctly i.e. you have to sit back - very beneficial to someone with back problems.
• Strengthening and correcting function of the posterior chain, i.e. hamstrings, glutes and spinal erectors and also the lats and not least the hip flexors all have significance for those with back problems.
• They attack the core from every angle and in a far more functional way.
• Strengthening and correcting function of the deep muscles of the vertebral column like the Multifidus and Rotators.
• I also believe that the pumping action of kettle bell exercises helps to re-hydrate the discs in the vertebral column. It is very important that they hold their hydration levels.

So as you can see that this innocuous little tool has far ranging health benefits, from rehab to general keep fit, fat loss to gaining considerable strength. So use it wisely and use it well.