His initial 12-week program was focused on increasing the range of motion in his hip and knee and improving his agonising back and shoulder pain.

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“I would go to bed with my fingers dug into my shoulders as hard as I could because the pain was better than if I didn’t,” he said.

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“The exercise has fixed that quite quickly.

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“What I wasn’t expecting was for the head pain, neck pain and knee pain to also disappear.

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“I wasn’t expecting anything like that. I wasn’t looking for that. I was looking for balance, a bit of strength and my shoulders.”

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We often hear this from clients – they start a program trying to fix one area and find improvements in other places they just weren’t expecting.

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Ed is now able to trim his own toe nails and attend to other personal care with the most ease in over 5 years and is feeling more confident and mobile every day.

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Ed’s program finished in March 2017, but he opted to continue his exercise journey, enrolling in ongoing twice-weekly classes and expanding his focus areas to include breathing, aerobic capacity, strength building, mobility and flexibility.

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Before coming to Care Forward, Ed would also experience agonising cramps in his calves.

He would garden for 10 minutes on his hands and knees before the pain became too much.

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“For two or three days afterwards, I’d suffer,” he said.

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“Now, I can do an hour, hour-and-a-half, no problem.

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“It [visiting the Wellness Centre] has been the best thing we’ve done. They’ve got wonderful, caring and innovative staff."

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“They can adjust things if they’re not quite working. They’re interested…it just makes so much difference.”