HOW I WENT FROM SERIOUS BACK PAIN to helping thousands of people build strong, healthy backs (without the need for painkillers or surgery).
I wasn't always a Pilates Studio owner....
Many years ago I suffered excruciating back pain that left me unable to get up the stairs, clean the house, look after the children or think about anything else other than the pain.
My career as a dancer was over.
I was lost.
I felt let down by the support I was offered. Constantly going between doctors, consultants, physiotherapists and osteopaths to try and find something that could 'fix' me.
It was mentally as well as physically exhausting.
Was I just destined to live with this pain for ever?
A family affair....
My whole family had back issues involving a hereditary bulging disk, so mine was nothing out of the ordinary.
Mum ended up severely prolapsing her disk, leaving her in hospital, in traction for two weeks. Eventually they operated and removed the whole disk.
My brother got off lightly with a micro-discectomy
Years previous to being in this agonising situation, I used to be a professional dancer (you’d think all that training would give me a strong back right?).
But ultimately my back pain was a major contributor to the end of my professional dance career. At this stage I thought my world had ended.
I thought it was only a matter of time before I ended up in the same position as my mum and brother - on the operating table.
I was terrified.
The success statistics for surgery were not encouraging.
I'd seen the complications that my Mum and Brother experienced for years afterwards so I knew I didn't want to go down that path.
SO I FOUND ANOTHER WAY....
I found a mentor
Someone who'd gone before me. Someone who knew what I'd been through. And most importantly, someone who knew how to show me the way. NOT do it FOR me, but EMPOWER me with the knowledge I needed to restore my own body to it's optimum strength.
At first it was frustrating. Progress felt slow.
But I learned that the issues in my body had been developing for months if not years.
And that a quick pill, tweak, or gimmick wasn't going to make it better. Certainly not for the long term.
So my mentor (who I am eternally grateful to, to this day) showed me a system... a roadmap that I could follow step-by-step, action by action.
It was a bit like taking something apart and rebuilding it properly.
She showed me how to:
- Identify what was going wrong in my body
- How to unravel the 'faulty' patterns that were causing the pain
- How to replace them with correct patterns that build strength and mobility
- Then how to cement it all together so that I no longer suffered with back (or any other joint) pain.
I realised the frustration in the beginning was because I had to spend time 'undoing' things. Then when I put it all back together again, that's when the magic happened!
SHE GAVE ME TOOLS FOR LIFE!
Then it finally dawned on me.
I now had the tools to relieve my back pain but also to prevent it from happening again in the future.
I was 100% committed to the system.
From here on I built on my background as a dancer and my anatomy & physiology qualifications and went on to train as Pilates Instructor.
Being the type of person I am I not only wanted to be a good Pilates teacher, but one of the best. Arming myself with a deep understanding of the anatomy of the human body and why things go wrong.
I opened a studio, and then a second and a third and they went from strength to strength. I had built a reputation for rehabilitating people through careful, systematic exercise.
It felt good.
But then burnout happened. I could only be in so many places at once, helping so many people.
So I decided to revert back to just one studio and focus my efforts there.
"Sometimes you meet people who change your life - Amanda did that for me"
Refining the system...
Over the next decade I specialised in Pilates for rehabilitation, helping thousands of people become stronger and reduce their pain.
There were surprises, some frustrations, incredible success stories but more importantly there were PATTERNS!
These patterns, this experience, along with what I'd personally been through enabled me to develop the system into an online blueprint that people could follow at home.
At that point I realised I could help many, many more people feel so much better because I was not limited to 1:1s.
The Ultimate Back Pain Relief Blueprint was born.
Are you ready to stop relying on others to 'fix' you? To feel better than you have felt in years?
I know you are ready because you are here, reading this.
Some people are not action takers, they sit, think, react and place the responsibility for their wellbeing on others.
I know that's not you.
You are looking for guidance, someone to show you how but NOT do it for you.
Perhaps you've tried Physiotherapy, Chiropractic treatment, Accupuncture, Massage and many other methods only to find that the benefits are short lived, and that you need to keep going back.
You want results but realise that there's no quick fix and you're happy to take a full six weeks to unravel and rebuild - knowing that in the future you will be stronger, more empowered and healthier than you've been in a long time!
If you are ready and willing to put the effort in, I CAN SHOW YOU HOW.
My training...
I chose to train with the Pilates Foundation with Master Trainer, Rachel Rafiefer. The Pilates Foundation have the most intensive, thorough training programme in the UK and is the only Pilates body recognised by the NHS for it's standards of training. It covered various illnesses and medical conditions including Arthritis and other joint issues, Disk problems, Spinal conditions such as Spondylolythesis, Sciatica, MS, Hypermobility, Pregnancy, Postnatal, amongst others. This initial training took over 18months to complete, with 200 apprentice hours.
- Pilates matwork (Pilates Foundation)
- Pilates apparatus training (with Australian Pilates Physiotherapy Institute APPI)
- Advanced Diploma in Myofascial Release
- Stott Pilates Intensive Reformer
- Balanced Body Apparatus 1 and 2
- Pilates small equipment
- Pilates for equestrians
- Muscle testing
- Muscle R.O.M
- Proprioception and the dura
- Pilates for the older population
A little about me.....
I have a 13 year old Boston Terrier called Max who is without doubt the most spectacular dog in the world.
Art is my other passion and I can get lost for hours in a painting.
I have a massive pancake addiction, which I try and keep under control.
My two boys make me proud. Every. Single. Day.
I definitely have an obsessive personality so if a job's worth doing it's worth putting 110% in.
