The lovely George, learned to Nordic Walk with me over a year ago. He had marked Kyphosis of the spine (curvature of the thoracic spine in the lung/rib region) & very quickly he was able to mark an improvement in his own posture. It happened whilst scouring the shelves of Morrisons of all places! Maybe its not such a bad store after all! Well done Ken!
Back to the tale….
George has a hearing impairment, so, often he walks but we don't manage a long dialogue. I do believe it was one week when we were walking alone together (it was probably raining and everybody else had wimped out) that he started telling me about his wife Joan & her challenge in life. The couple walk together every day in Boston Spa (at speed) but Joan was having increasing problems in doing so & George was turning into a full time carer for his wife as she had started to feel so vulnerable when venturing out. That situation had lead George to seek some escapism & time for himself & enrol as a Nordic Nomad. George wanted to know whether I thought that Nordic Walking might help his wife. I could only speak from a gut feeling but I did think that it would help, if only in getting her out and enabling her to feel more stable as a quadruped rather than a biped.
Joan (aged 70ish) has, for 12 years, suffered from cervical-dystonia. It is a little heard of, or indeed understood, medical condition characterised by the excessive pulling of the muscles in the neck & shoulder. In Joans' case, this pulling causes her to tilt her head to the side & forwards involuntarily, accompanied by a jerky/wobbly movement, a tremor. Her cervical spine would drop, to lie perpendicular to her thoracic spine & the posture made her look as if she were watching her grandchild walking along down behind her elbow. Can you imagine trying to walk an uneven footpath like that?
When I witnessed her walking at her most fatigued, she was slightly more distorted and tilted than the lady pictured here with 'Torticollis':
The most common form of treatment is the botulinum toxin (Botox). Injections in the dystonic (contracted) muscle of the neck serve to paralyse them. By disabling these antagonist muscles (the overtly contracted muscle which is causing the pull to one side) the agonist muscle is free to move. Joan had tried this treatment with limited relief.
So, Joan came along to our group lessons to learn to Nordic Walk. At my suggestion, her husband came along for the ride. What a plucky woman, as if it isn't hard enough to learn a new skill at that age, she was battling with severe dystonia too. By this time in terms of pathophysiology, things had progressed so far that she could only walk for approximately 15 minutes before her neck started going into spasm & she had to use her free hand to support her chin & keep the head upwards, thus putting an even more marked distortion into her gait. This would be a challenge with Nordic poles in your hands!
Fortunately, we had quite a small, select, group, learning with her & everybody, like myself, was in awe of this lady & showered her with encouragement. She never uttered a word of complaint, true grit and determination shone through.
A year down the line & Joan has purchased her own poles & is walking over 5 miles (at ever increasing speeds) This week she even conquered the hilly circuit of Harewood & Emmerdale! This is a testing walk for the best of my clients!
Her head still shows a tendency to drop forward but this is very much reduced & her overall posture has shown a marked improvement. She still takes her neck collar out for a walk (it isn't dissimilar to the collars used for treating whiplash) it just acts to support her head when she is no longer able to hold it upright. The condition varies on a daily basis so she remains feeling a little vulnerable in case things deteriorate unexpectedly whilst walking but it would appear that the arm action used for Nordic Walking confuses the brain & associated nerves. The walking action & employment of the shoulder & neck muscles, seems to nullify the work of the antagonist muscles or it stimulates the agonist muscles enough to pull things back into line.
Nordic Walking has enabled Joan to re-engage with a much loved outlet in life, previously walking was employed primarily as a means to keep fit but now it has become much more of a pleasurable experience which had been taken away from her. George still enjoys his escapism & 'girly time' on my ladies walks. He is, at this moment in time, our honorary man and very popular for it!
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