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Inspiring Stories:
Ted Opie
If you have been at Inspired Wellness on a weekday morning you have seen and probably marveled at Ted Opie's high energy and playful teasing as he goes through an intense, athletic session. But this wasn't always the case. As a matter of fact, when he first came in he could not even put his shoes on and lived in fear of every move he made secondary to his history of back pain. Pretty surprising, for a man in his late 40's that had traveled the globe and realized huge success in the international business world. His history of spinal pain included surgeries and attempts at rehab with less than optimal functional outcomes. His wife, a regular fitness/wellness client at Inspired Wellness, had been prompting him for years to consider IW for his Rehab needs. It was after coming in and observing another successful Rehab turned fitness client, Mike Cleaver that he felt inspired to finally take up his wife's suggestion.
Ted started very slowly on the rehab track, combining both manual therapy to affect structure and Rehab based Pilates work to re-educate his neuromuscular system for greater function, along with infra-red sauna as a healing modality for his inflamed tissue. He had to learn how to move all over again, and deal with the fear of movement that so many chronic low back pain sufferers face. "I remember when he observed Mike's very athletic session-he verbalized doubt about ever being able to do so many of the moves Mike was able to do with ease. I was quick to remind him of that the first time he did jump board on the reformer. I think he surprised himself but quickly realized what was possible." says Kelly Hale. His dedication and discipline were huge assets to his progress. He was, and is still, so committed to his "homework" — a carefully designed and progressed home program of exercises that he does faithfully. Within a matter of time, about 6 months, Ted was able to achieve a huge goal-going on a wilderness trip to count the moose population in the U.P. By this time he was accessing a blend of rehab and fitness sessions, preparing him for the uneven terrain, the endurance work of hiking and standing and even had him take the small body rolling balls on the trip to make sure he had "recovery tools" at the end of each long day. He made it through that trip with flying colors and even went back the next year and was able to do more, much to the surprise of his cohorts.
Ted now plays golf regularly, including traveling to play in tournaments around the country with friends. His golf buddies, who wrote him off as not being competitive because of his injuries, now look to him for advice on playing longer with less pain. He also does hours of yard work daily. Although, he has graduated from his "rehab" status and is now working in the IW fitness/wellness realm of Pilates, Golf specific conditioning and functional endurance work, he occasionally reconnects with the rehab based work. This allows him to keep progressing to higher levels of function and deal with any overuse or small flare-ups that come as a result of his very active lifestyle. Ted is truly an Inspiration — reminding us that when we see someone do high level moves with ease we just never know where they started out. If Ted can do it, so can you!
