Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week: Two fitness fanatics
This week is MS Awareness Week (27 April – 3 May), which seeks to highlight the importance of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) specialist services and ensure everyone affected by MS can access the best possible care.
MS is a disease of the central nervous system. There are over 100,000 people living with MS in the UK today, and there are roughly three times as many women with MS as men. Around 100 more people are diagnosed every week.
The Multiple Sclerosis Trust has a campaign to boost the numbers of MS specialist nurses and therapists with expertise in MS working in the health system.
As the national charity dedicated to disabled people in sport and physical activity, the English Federation of Disability Sport seeks to highlight the opportunities available to people with MS.
Joseph’s Court, in Colchester, Essex, is run by the charity MS-UK. Opened July 2012, the centre offers a wide range of activities and makes available a whole host of specialised equipment designed to build muscle strength and tone. There is also a therapy room on site.
Fanatical about fitness
Gordon Reeve, 65, attends three times a week and has become fanatical about his fitness.
“Before it opened, I used to drag myself around the garden as and when my body would let me, or else lie on the floor and do some general exercises just to keep me moving. But I was never sure whether I was doing the exercises right, or even overdoing them,” he told EFDS.
“I saw an article in the local paper about Joseph’s Court and told myself I must go down, and I haven’t looked back.”
Taking advantage of the skilled on-site staff and the wide variety and easily-adjusted fitness equipment, Gordon has found frequent exercise has helped alleviate some of his more severe MS symptoms.
“At night, or when I stood up, I would get muscle spasms in my legs and lower back which felt as though I was being electrocuted. But since I’ve been regularly exercising those pains have pretty much disappeared.
“The exercise also makes sitting down more comfortable, because before I used to not be able to get comfortable. That would even apply to lying down. And that hardly ever happens now.
“I’m definitely in less pain that I used to be. I might as well be a happy person with MS as a miserable one. MS is not going to go away by being miserable – it will only make it worse.”
That can-do attitude is exemplified by another Joseph’s Court regular, Sara Partridge.
A keen hockey and tennis player in her youth, Sara was first diagnosed with MS just over a decade ago. But that did not prevent her from continuing her exercise regime.
“For 10 years I think I had MS but just didn’t know, and in that time I continued to play sport,” Sara told EFDS.
“I played a good level of hockey and a good level of tennis – playing sport had always been a part of my life. But I found increasingly that my MS manifested itself as fatigue, so I’d come off the hockey pitch and have to rest straightaway.
“MS is quite a difficult disease in terms of judging whether or not doing something such as fitness could actually make things worse. Medical practitioners cannot give you a clear answer and often sit on the fence, so you’re forced to make your own judgements.
“And Joseph’s Court comes in there, as a brilliant facility where the mindset is that exercise is not bad for you but good, and that keeping fit can distract you from your disease.”
Combining exercise and MS
In Sara’s opinion, exercise is key for people with neurological conditions such as MS.
“Fitness is actually probably slightly more important for people with MS than many people who don’t have it. I have seen people at various different stages of their MS journey and they always get something out of keeping fit. These days there are fitness facilities available, plus supportive people who can help you achieve your exercise goals.”
Sara has always been a gym-addict, but for someone like Gordon getting started proved a challenge.
“A lot of people told me, 25 years ago when I was first diagnosed, that I wouldn’t be able to exercise, though I was willing to try anything. Even doctors weren’t able to advise.
“When I first started I hadn’t done any good exercise for a long while. I went through the wringer. I pushed myself and suffered, thanks to the lactic acid. But after three or four months I just got better and better. And I keep pushing myself, though I must be careful not to overdo it.”
For Sara, Joseph’s Court came to the rescue during a difficult period last year.
“Towards the end of last summer I was very fatigued. I decided just to do things that would benefit my home and my family, and I needed to devote my energy on that. I simply wasn’t exercising, and I got into this spiral of feeling I couldn’t do it.
“But I went down to Joseph’s Court, and in actually going and spending that time keeping fit, I came home and felt capable once more. It mentally and physically helped me, and I’ve found I can now do a lot more. I can look at my list of jobs and responsibilities, and now I feel it can all be achieved. It really helped me, and it was crucial at that point in my life.”
For the likes of Sara and Gordon, as well as the many others who regularly attend, it’s the positive and supportive atmosphere of Joseph’s Court that makes the difference.
“The staff there help assess what I can and cannot actually do, and they constantly reassess,” says Sara. “It becomes not about what you can’t do but what you can. Equally, staff also still push you, which is excellent. The environment is a very positive one.”
“At Joseph’s Court, if there is anything you want you can always ask,” adds Gordon. “And if they don’t know they will find out for you. And the machines are easy once you’re helped to get into them. It is very enjoyable.”
The MS-UK website contains useful information about lifestyle, diet and fitness. It highlights walking, swimming, yoga, physiotherapy and gym sessions as just some of the fitness approaches now open to people with MS. EFDS exists to make active lives possible. Both MS-UK and EFDS can also be found on social media. Find out more about EFDS's Inclusive Fitness programme.
