As part of our series of articles, where we ask people their thoughts on sport and the challenges they encounter. This week we spoke to Laura and this is her dilemma whether to take Physiotherapy or Circuit Training??? As a twin, I experience twin ‘things’ but not like normal twins. My twin thing with my brother is breaking our feet. We seem to compete with how bad someone can break there feet. At the moment it is 2v1 to me, however he did need an operation so I would say we are now equal however he states differently. It has been almost 9 months since previously breaking my left foot after a night out simply running to MacDonald’s - (at least I was doing exercise!) Recently I have felt pain in both feet and sometimes it makes walking difficult. Typical for me, rather than doing anything constructive, I spent a month just moaning and complaining about sore feet. So, after a lecture from mum I felt it was time to finally go and receive help and sort myself out. What I did not realise is that your knees and hips can affect your ankle joint, which is why I was now experiencing pain, after not receiving proper physiotherapy after my previous ligament damage and fractures. The thought of going to a gym for me is like having a nightmare after eating cheese before bed. I love sport, but exercise is another issue. Going to a physio in my eyes means lovely massages, nice relaxed feel, a bit like a spa, nice and relaxing. Oh how naive and uneducated I am in this are of expertise. After booking in with a local physiotherapist near my university house, I was quite apprehensive, as I might be 20 but going to things like this requires your mum or dad, a bit like the dentist, you need someone there with you. So, off I went to the see the physio expecting a nice relaxed massage which will hopefully solve all my issues in one go. However this was not to be the case, I walked in and was immediately being put to my pace, trying to do all these random exercises to realise how messed up my hips were. The second appointment was even harder, doing more exercises using an exercise ball and a balance ball, and honestly driving back home was a struggle. I felt like I had just gone to the gym, my calves were so sore.
The third visit..... I had been doing all my exercises thinking what is the point of going back I am fine now surely? I went along, showed him all my exercises, then he said "well you have improved so much", I was thinking thank god I can get back into bed with a nice cup of tea and live like a student again, by watching endless amounts of Netflix and eating cheesy beans on toast. I was wrong… I was wearing a jumper as it was cold and expecting a nice massage once again, however I thought i had entered the wrong room. He got me doing a full blown circuit training session. I was sweating like nothing before, my abs, my back, my thighs, were feeling it. He claims to be strengthening and I do feel a miraculous change and I do already feel stronger, but I cannot cope! So Laura let old injuries go without treatment and eventually it took its toll. Most aches and pains will improve with a sports massage and then follow up strength and conditioning exercises. It won't be an instant fix though and may take 3 or 4 weeks before you see any improvement. The longer you leave it the harder it will be to fix.
