We rushed back from Brittany so I could join the first class of the Ecole du dos today at 4pm.
After 5 hours in the car this morning and unpacking I was not in the best shape to attend a 2h-class.
Luckily for me, it's school vacation which means I could go swimming during the couple of hours of free time I had left today.
I arrived at the hospital a bit before 4pm and had to wait while they were setting up the room. The "classroom" was the break room from the staff, temporarily set up with 12 chairs and a screen. I find it interesting that they started by apologizing for the crappy chairs and giving us permission to change chair or stand up if we felt uncomfortable. After all we were there to make our back better. I wondered, why not getting decent chairs?
We started with a round of introduction: name, occupation, cause of pain and for how long, expectation from the cursus. I felt young in this group of 50+ people, which is always good. I felt different when I realized that unlike the majority, despite the pain, I keep working. Easily two thirds of the group is on long term sick leave. I felt unique when after 20min sitting I stood up for the rest of the lesson.
Once done with the introduction, we had a lesson on the anatomy of the back. Interesting indeed but nothing new if you have done any biology class in your life, which apparently was not the case for most people, to my surprise. I did suggest to the physiotherapist giving the lesson to tap into the videos available on Internet to show how vertebrae and discs move around. Much easier than words and still pictures from an anatomy book.
After one hour, we had a break so we could move to the exercise room. In the meantime we were also shown the fitness room with the usual machines (a first for some of the students). That's where we will come after the "theory" to strengthen our muscles and general condition. When the physiotherapist mentioned we will start by 30min biking for cardio, some people got scared, someone said he cannot sit on a bike anymore, someone got concerned about her knee prosthesis, and I was wondering whether I could use the treadmill or the cross trainer to burn more calories (I'll ask when we get there). My first question was whether there are showers in the building, because if I train in cardio, I will need a shower afterwards.
The second half of the class was some "easy" exercises, mainly stretching which to be honest I was happy to do. Although, I would have loved for someone to tell me to bring fitness outfit. Stretching in jeans is not always easy. Lucky enough I was not working today. It would have been problematic for me to do those exercises in pants or skirt.
This said, overall my first impression is quite positive. People were friendly. There were 4 physiotherapists in the room when we were exercising, i.e. one for three students which is plenty enough to make sure we do things the right way. Let's see how Thursday goes.
After 5 hours in the car this morning and unpacking I was not in the best shape to attend a 2h-class.
Luckily for me, it's school vacation which means I could go swimming during the couple of hours of free time I had left today.
I arrived at the hospital a bit before 4pm and had to wait while they were setting up the room. The "classroom" was the break room from the staff, temporarily set up with 12 chairs and a screen. I find it interesting that they started by apologizing for the crappy chairs and giving us permission to change chair or stand up if we felt uncomfortable. After all we were there to make our back better. I wondered, why not getting decent chairs?
We started with a round of introduction: name, occupation, cause of pain and for how long, expectation from the cursus. I felt young in this group of 50+ people, which is always good. I felt different when I realized that unlike the majority, despite the pain, I keep working. Easily two thirds of the group is on long term sick leave. I felt unique when after 20min sitting I stood up for the rest of the lesson.
Once done with the introduction, we had a lesson on the anatomy of the back. Interesting indeed but nothing new if you have done any biology class in your life, which apparently was not the case for most people, to my surprise. I did suggest to the physiotherapist giving the lesson to tap into the videos available on Internet to show how vertebrae and discs move around. Much easier than words and still pictures from an anatomy book.
After one hour, we had a break so we could move to the exercise room. In the meantime we were also shown the fitness room with the usual machines (a first for some of the students). That's where we will come after the "theory" to strengthen our muscles and general condition. When the physiotherapist mentioned we will start by 30min biking for cardio, some people got scared, someone said he cannot sit on a bike anymore, someone got concerned about her knee prosthesis, and I was wondering whether I could use the treadmill or the cross trainer to burn more calories (I'll ask when we get there). My first question was whether there are showers in the building, because if I train in cardio, I will need a shower afterwards.
The second half of the class was some "easy" exercises, mainly stretching which to be honest I was happy to do. Although, I would have loved for someone to tell me to bring fitness outfit. Stretching in jeans is not always easy. Lucky enough I was not working today. It would have been problematic for me to do those exercises in pants or skirt.
This said, overall my first impression is quite positive. People were friendly. There were 4 physiotherapists in the room when we were exercising, i.e. one for three students which is plenty enough to make sure we do things the right way. Let's see how Thursday goes.
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