This is Anne, one of my wonderful participants of the Free Balance Class that I lead at a local church. These pictures show the progress of Anne's increased strength and mobility. The first pic was taken when she was in a wheelchair after having taken a fall and having 2 black eyes, the second one is of her walking with a cane, and the third is her now smiling and happy on a swing (it is usually difficult for people with bad mobility to sit on something that doesn't have a firm base or structure, so this is impressive). Anne is an amazing woman who has changed her life using tools that we have talked about in class. The following is her review that she put on my Yelp page.
"Stanley Forsyth and his regular Balance Class at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Walnut Creek, CA, along with Weight Watchers have turned my life around. My pain management doctor wants to meet Stanley Forsyth now that I go to my regular pain medicine visits without pain and have had a reduced my pain medication. I have had chronic back pain for more than 12 years. Since beginning to go to regular "Balance Class" and beginning to lose weight I live PAIN FREE almost all the time!
Stanley's holistic approach to physical therapy has many of the same type of exercises I have been given in many other prescribed therapy sessions, but he makes them easy to do without anything but a chair to sit in and stand behind and a wall to walk along. Most exercises can be done anywhere and anytime...I would highly recommend Stanley Forsyth to others" ~ Anne M. Concord, Calif.
"Stanley Forsyth and his regular Balance Class at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Walnut Creek, CA, along with Weight Watchers have turned my life around. My pain management doctor wants to meet Stanley Forsyth now that I go to my regular pain medicine visits without pain and have had a reduced my pain medication. I have had chronic back pain for more than 12 years. Since beginning to go to regular "Balance Class" and beginning to lose weight I live PAIN FREE almost all the time!
Stanley's holistic approach to physical therapy has many of the same type of exercises I have been given in many other prescribed therapy sessions, but he makes them easy to do without anything but a chair to sit in and stand behind and a wall to walk along. Most exercises can be done anywhere and anytime...I would highly recommend Stanley Forsyth to others" ~ Anne M. Concord, Calif.
The first picture is before I started working with Tillie, the second is during one of our sessions and the third is her now. She is an amazing
!
When I first met Tillie she was 96 years old, she had broken her hip and her wrist from falling over, 6 months prior to our meeting. She currently lives in a care facility and her husband visits her on a regular basis. She was initially given 6 weeks of physical therapy, upon our meeting, and wasn't allowed any more appointments. It took 2 people to move her, 2 people to take her to shower and change her because she couldn't help and assist in standing or holding on. She had dementia and I was told that she didn't usually talk. She had a full head of white hair and she wasn't eating very much.
I started out our sessions with some brain activity exercises. We passed a ball from one hand to the other crossing the mid-line of the body. When some people cross the ball and it meets in the middle it doesn't have the same effect as crossing it all the way across the body. Crossing the mid-line stimulates the left and right hemisphere of the brain. We then worked on leg strength and range of motion. We worked her hips and activated her groin and pelvic floor. Stretching was also a big part of our routine to increase range of motion and to decrease frozen joints from arthritis. When we first started working together Tillie didn't talk during our sessions. Her husband was there for the session and he facilitated our communication. Tillie would do the exercises as I talked with her, but there was little to no verbal response. As we continued to work together at the end of the first week her friends came by to see her and everyone noticed that she was talking a lot more. She started becoming more responsive and awake.
Physically Tillie responded quickly. Her range of motion started to improve in all of her exercises. Helping her to stand from her wheelchair she started to be able to help me by pushing with her legs. Once she was standing she was able to hold herself upright without assistance. Her endurance improved and she was able to walk further, around 30 feet. All of her friends noticed that within the first week her verbal skills had increased. She was more alert, giving verbal responses, and participating in conversations.
Now that I have been working with her for just under a year and she is even starting to get dark hairs on her head. It is amazing the connection between physical body and mental stimulation. There is a lot of research that shows that there is a huge benefit for exercise and physical movement in improving cognitive functioning and slowing the onset of dementia. Tillie is an amazing example of this. She was barely verbally responsive, she would fall asleep during the middle of a "conversation", and she wouldn't say even Yes or NO answers. Now because of the exercises that we do together she doesn't fall asleep in the chair quite so often, she is verbally responsive when someone asks her a question, and she is able to participate in conversations and interact with her friends that come to visit her.
I started out our sessions with some brain activity exercises. We passed a ball from one hand to the other crossing the mid-line of the body. When some people cross the ball and it meets in the middle it doesn't have the same effect as crossing it all the way across the body. Crossing the mid-line stimulates the left and right hemisphere of the brain. We then worked on leg strength and range of motion. We worked her hips and activated her groin and pelvic floor. Stretching was also a big part of our routine to increase range of motion and to decrease frozen joints from arthritis. When we first started working together Tillie didn't talk during our sessions. Her husband was there for the session and he facilitated our communication. Tillie would do the exercises as I talked with her, but there was little to no verbal response. As we continued to work together at the end of the first week her friends came by to see her and everyone noticed that she was talking a lot more. She started becoming more responsive and awake.
Physically Tillie responded quickly. Her range of motion started to improve in all of her exercises. Helping her to stand from her wheelchair she started to be able to help me by pushing with her legs. Once she was standing she was able to hold herself upright without assistance. Her endurance improved and she was able to walk further, around 30 feet. All of her friends noticed that within the first week her verbal skills had increased. She was more alert, giving verbal responses, and participating in conversations.
Now that I have been working with her for just under a year and she is even starting to get dark hairs on her head. It is amazing the connection between physical body and mental stimulation. There is a lot of research that shows that there is a huge benefit for exercise and physical movement in improving cognitive functioning and slowing the onset of dementia. Tillie is an amazing example of this. She was barely verbally responsive, she would fall asleep during the middle of a "conversation", and she wouldn't say even Yes or NO answers. Now because of the exercises that we do together she doesn't fall asleep in the chair quite so often, she is verbally responsive when someone asks her a question, and she is able to participate in conversations and interact with her friends that come to visit her.
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