Testimonials
|
I have been coming to Sophie's practice for many years and have her team to thank for making sure I overcame my many injury challenges whilst preparing for the Olympics. They certainly deserve a piece of each of my Olympic medals!
Michael Louwrens Paralympic Athlete winner of Shotput Gold Atlanta 1996, Gold Sydney 2000, Gold Athens 2004 and Bronze London 2012 |
|
|
Sophie is my saving grace, I wouldn't be where I am today without her professional excellence and extraordinary understanding of us as individuals. This is my story...
I'm a Sportswoman. I grew up playing every sport I could, Swimming, Hockey, Squash and Tennis were the main events, Tennis being my true love. I played sport every day of the week, and my holidays were taken up by sports tours. I first started seeing Sophie when I was about 14yrs old. Being a teenager your body suddenly decides this is it and the growth spurts begin. Muscles, ligaments, bone structure etc. don't all grow and develop at the same pace and when you are extremely active injuries can occur. Of course through my teenage years every injury was the end of the world to me and life as I knew it was over! Looking back I realize that is where Sophie first showed her brilliance! You have to speak a different language when dealing with teenagers and the treatment is never straight forward! The most debilitating condition I had was Scheuermann's Disease, which essentially is a back problem that is aggravated when playing a lot of sport. |
Fortunately it is something I grew out of, but careful management and treatment was key for me to be able to continue competing at a certain level, and that is where Sophie was first so instrumental.
When I was 17 I went to the United States on a Tennis Scholarship and for 4 years my body only gave me the normal amount of niggles you would expect being an athlete. At age 22 my real nightmare began. I had finished College and was home planning on where to go next to play more tennis! I woke up one morning and I had terrible pain all the way down my one leg. Sophie said it was neural. She was concerned though and a red flag went up for her because I hadn't “done” anything to my back, I simply woke up with it.
This is where Sophie is brilliant, her diagnostic skills are phenomenal and her wealth of knowledge and experience far supercedes the normal expectations of a physio. She sent me to Doctors and Neurosurgeons. They did all the Standard Tests but nothing of significance showed up. Sophie was convinced that there was something far more serious going on with my back. The problem was, I was only 22yrs old, far too young for the Neurosurgeons to really consider something they normally see in much older patients.
Over the next few months the pain became debilitating and Sophie was the only one from the medical profession who believed me! Sophie does not back down when it comes to her patients. She believed me and she believed in her diagnosis, she persisted with the Surgeons. She is so well respected within the Medical Community that they finally decided to take me seriously.
At 23 years of age I had major back surgery, Sophie knew I was terrified so she promised she would be there for the Op. She was 8 months pregnant and she had asked to be present in theater to watch the surgery! They found that there was hardly anything left of my L4 disc. The Neurosurgeon told me my sporting career was over. He said I would never be able to play tennis, or any sport for that matter. Coaching tennis was also out of the question. He said I could walk to keep fit and maybe do some swimming. My life was over, or so I believed but Sophie had other ideas, “Let’s just take it one day at a time and see how far we can go.” I will never forget that!
When I was 17 I went to the United States on a Tennis Scholarship and for 4 years my body only gave me the normal amount of niggles you would expect being an athlete. At age 22 my real nightmare began. I had finished College and was home planning on where to go next to play more tennis! I woke up one morning and I had terrible pain all the way down my one leg. Sophie said it was neural. She was concerned though and a red flag went up for her because I hadn't “done” anything to my back, I simply woke up with it.
This is where Sophie is brilliant, her diagnostic skills are phenomenal and her wealth of knowledge and experience far supercedes the normal expectations of a physio. She sent me to Doctors and Neurosurgeons. They did all the Standard Tests but nothing of significance showed up. Sophie was convinced that there was something far more serious going on with my back. The problem was, I was only 22yrs old, far too young for the Neurosurgeons to really consider something they normally see in much older patients.
Over the next few months the pain became debilitating and Sophie was the only one from the medical profession who believed me! Sophie does not back down when it comes to her patients. She believed me and she believed in her diagnosis, she persisted with the Surgeons. She is so well respected within the Medical Community that they finally decided to take me seriously.
At 23 years of age I had major back surgery, Sophie knew I was terrified so she promised she would be there for the Op. She was 8 months pregnant and she had asked to be present in theater to watch the surgery! They found that there was hardly anything left of my L4 disc. The Neurosurgeon told me my sporting career was over. He said I would never be able to play tennis, or any sport for that matter. Coaching tennis was also out of the question. He said I could walk to keep fit and maybe do some swimming. My life was over, or so I believed but Sophie had other ideas, “Let’s just take it one day at a time and see how far we can go.” I will never forget that!
|
And so began my year of rehab. I firmly believe that part of Sophie’s Ethos is making sure you not only treat the patient physically, but mentally too. I would not have come through rehab without her. You go through highs and lows all the time and it is so important to have someone to make sure you keep your eye on the prize, and she knew that. So instead of just treating me and sending me on my way to wallow in self-pity she set goals for me. She knew that I was a competitor at heart and would not turn down a challenge. Brilliant!
Sophie taught me how to make my body strong in order to protect my back. She got me back on court and I started Coaching! She got me going from strength to strength setting new goals and over the next few years I started cycling. I didn't enjoy it but it was a sport! I needed a new goal. In 2011 I told her I wanted to do the Half Iron-Man. 1.9km Swim, 90km Bike, and 21km Run. She said, “Ok, let’s start the training and see how we go!” Well, I went back to her very despondent, “I can't do the swim, after 500m's my back is killing me.” She told me to go back and swim without kicking, brilliant! |
|
Next obstacle was the bike, my hip on the hills was agony. She diagnosed it as neural and coming from my back of course! She said,”Ok, let’s try doing Sliders, mobilising the nerves.” huh? You can mobilise nerves? It was a new technique that had excellent results. This is something I now do every day. The run was a concern, but Sophie managed me perfectly. She kept me at 5km and 8km runs with only a longer 10/12km run once a week. I completed my first Half Iron-Man and had a good cry. I have done another 2 since then. It was time for a new goal!
Sophie knew long before me what my end goal would be. I was so nervous to ask her in fear of a complete NO! I finally built up the courage and told her what I wanted to do, the Full Ironman in 2014. “I've been waiting for this,” she said! She had one condition and that was if at any time during the training she thought my back was not coping and I was not strong enough she would call it. Deal! We were now heading into serious unknown territory. The Ironman is a 3.8km Swim, 180.2km Bike and 42.2km Run. The bike was going to be our biggest worry, we were looking at spending around 7hrs on the bike, with my back in more or less one bent over position. My training program was completely different from the norm but I trusted her. She treated me continuously through my training for maintenance and monitoring. There were one or two times where she told me to take the whole week off except for swimming. My back needed recovery time. She knew exactly when I had to push it and when to take time out. We built up the distances nicely but she never allowed me to run more than 28km and I only did a hand full of those.
Sophie is the reason I made it to race day, the odds were so stacked against us and yet here I was. Even if I didn't complete the race I felt we had won the battle. Sophie proved without a doubt how powerful it is to have a medical professional who believes in a positive outcome, who will think outside the box in order to come up with a solution and who will treat the patient and not just the injury!
In this 15 year journey not once did Sophie ever tell me, “No, not possible” or “You can't do it.” She used her phenomenal skills and knowledge to treat me, and her understanding of me as an individual to know what I needed to hear and when I needed to hear it!
Neurosurgeon: “You will never play sport again.”
Sophie: “Let's just take it one day at a time and see how far we can go.”
I completed the 2014 full Ironman South Africa in a time of 14hrs40min.
Thank you Sophie...
Jeanne-Marie Broadhurst
Sophie knew long before me what my end goal would be. I was so nervous to ask her in fear of a complete NO! I finally built up the courage and told her what I wanted to do, the Full Ironman in 2014. “I've been waiting for this,” she said! She had one condition and that was if at any time during the training she thought my back was not coping and I was not strong enough she would call it. Deal! We were now heading into serious unknown territory. The Ironman is a 3.8km Swim, 180.2km Bike and 42.2km Run. The bike was going to be our biggest worry, we were looking at spending around 7hrs on the bike, with my back in more or less one bent over position. My training program was completely different from the norm but I trusted her. She treated me continuously through my training for maintenance and monitoring. There were one or two times where she told me to take the whole week off except for swimming. My back needed recovery time. She knew exactly when I had to push it and when to take time out. We built up the distances nicely but she never allowed me to run more than 28km and I only did a hand full of those.
Sophie is the reason I made it to race day, the odds were so stacked against us and yet here I was. Even if I didn't complete the race I felt we had won the battle. Sophie proved without a doubt how powerful it is to have a medical professional who believes in a positive outcome, who will think outside the box in order to come up with a solution and who will treat the patient and not just the injury!
In this 15 year journey not once did Sophie ever tell me, “No, not possible” or “You can't do it.” She used her phenomenal skills and knowledge to treat me, and her understanding of me as an individual to know what I needed to hear and when I needed to hear it!
Neurosurgeon: “You will never play sport again.”
Sophie: “Let's just take it one day at a time and see how far we can go.”
I completed the 2014 full Ironman South Africa in a time of 14hrs40min.
Thank you Sophie...
Jeanne-Marie Broadhurst
|
This Ironman would not have been possible without Sophie Chandler!! Plagued by injuries that started in 2009 and going from physio to physio until I was referred to Sophie. It was a long hard road that culminated in me finishing Ironman 2012 (in the stormy weather) injury free! She is a very knowledgeable physio, but what really sets her apart is her caring and understanding!!
Sue Chapman |
