Quantum Fitness – Introducing the “Power Plate”
How I managed to get my 87 year old mum back on her feet and confident…
I’m at an age where many of my relatives are quite elderly and finding it difficult to move around. I hear stories – reluctantly told – of them being “trapped” in their home; of not being able to do the things we take for granted. Of feeling alone. And somewhat helpless.
We can go to for a walk or a swim to ease our joints. They can’t.
But what if we could take the equivalent of the gym to them?
The reason I raise this is I received an email from an old friend of mine in Colombo. He’d recently returned after spending many, many years in NZ and his elderly parents were not having such a good time.
Here’s what he wrote.
“My elderly mother was diagnosed with osteoarthritis for several years. In 2016, she had several falls and sustained fractures.
My mother was a very active person and to see her walking painfully slow, hunched, and with a walker, was truly shocking to almost everyone that knew her. So, in January 2017, after 42 years of their life in New Zealand, I brought them back to Sri Lanka. My mother travelled in a wheelchair, with great difficulty.
I’ve been closely involved in helping people stay fit and healthy most of my working life and I had been reading about ‘Whole Body Vibration’ and about Power Plate® in particular. Power Plate® stimulates the body’s’ natural reflexes, facilitating a rapid reflexive muscle response through the sensory receptors of the muscles. It is the only machine in the industry that meets the standards needed to be certified as a class IIa medical device by the EU’s regulatory body.
I also discovered that, in research studies, Power Plate® can be a helpful parallel therapy to reverse bone loss and osteoporosis, increasing leg strength by as much as 16%, and bone density in the hip by 1.5%.
This is what I wanted for Mum.
I was intrigued by its benefits and got my mother a Power Plate® machine to see how it would help her in her recovery. Initially, she used it by standing on it for about 2 minutes a day and steadily progressing towards 10 to 15 minutes over a period of 1 to 2 months.
3 to 4 months later, my mother’s progress was so fabulous that she no longer needed a walker to get about. She is now relatively upright in her posture and has been able manage each day with no recurrence of the severe pain she used to have. She does use a walking stick, for confidence, when she goes out-doors.
I attribute these amazing changes to Power Plate®. With a combination of a superb doctor (who was able to reduce her pain medication, thus making her less-reliant on pharmacological agents) and a very talented physiotherapist who totally understood what my mother needed, I can see what significant synergies Power Plate® has played in getting her to a state of independent living where she can move around freely.
And what that has meant to me is that I have been able to lead a normal work life.”
Armed with this info, I made some enquiries back in Lanka as I thought this Power Plate would suit my 2 Aunts who live together in Borella. I tracked down the stockists to Quantum Fitness and arranged for a demo at their home.
I had to rely on my Sis who was there and she sounded very, very pleased the next time we spoke. In fact, she told me to get one as she hadn’t seen her Auntie’s as happy in a long time.
The upshot is that I did buy a PowerPlate and had it delivered. It took about 3 months for it to have a big effect on both their mobility and arthritis pain.
Now, like my mates Mum, they’re not exactly running around, BUT they are out of the house again, doing some gardening and visiting friends.
Are they happy? Oh, yes.
Am I happy? I couldn’t be happier.
If you want to have a demo for any of your relatives back in Sri Lanka. Here’s the telephone number. +94 11 x xxx xxxx. The website address is www.quantum.lk.
