Self Help 4 Stroke

“I find going for to the gym for the first time was actually quite a relaxing experience. When I was in hospital I met Andrew (the coach) and it was he who encouraged me to go to the gym so that when I was there I was aware of what it was I was actually going to be doing.

I use both the bike and the treadmill to warm up. I find both of them are easy to use. Again, I had very good instructions on how to work them. I feel very comfortable with the amount of control I had, the way I could warm up and the speed at which I was warming up. At all times I felt in full control. I used the exercise machine both to tone and strengthen my muscles. Because of my stroke, I lost my right hand side, and in particular my arm and leg but I find both of these machines help me get my stroke back.

There are some exercises I do at home and I don’t really need any specialist equip like you do here in the centre. Using things like Squeeze balls for my hand and also by quickly going up and down my stairs helps. You can also lean against a wall and treat it like a push-up.

The thing I think is most important is that I’m very conscious that exercise is beneficial to me and even without equipment at home I can do exercise and the more I do it, the better it is for me.
I will be definitely coming back to the centre and regularly the physical and fitness side is very important to me but the actual psychological of actually meeting people outside my home is very important to me too. Last but not least I would like to get back to playing golf soon and the physical exercise is helping me with that aim in life.”

“Having had my stroke, one of the things I have to do is plan my time and make sure I have plenty time to get organised with my equipment and get myself on to the tee at the right time. Also I have to ensure I have time to get a proper warm up before I even hit the first ball. There are two aspects of my life that have really affected myself and my goal: One was the physical challenges that I had to recover from and the second was the mental challenge – Not to be too hard on myself if I was not in a position to go on to the course and play the way that I used to. I had to start working on that very slowly. Also, getting out of the house and meeting friends in the golf club as well as on the course was great but one of the aspects that really helped me was going to the leisure cent and working hard on my physical fitness so I could get back to playing golf again.”

Scottish disability golf partnership.
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