Kate Wakefield

I started playing basketball when I was 16. Until one day I had incredible back pain; then it was difficult to even walk... I felt...old. I couldn't do normal everyday things. I had x rays and saw many doctors and physiotherapists. Eventually I improved with a lot of stretching and some resistance training. Eventually I was fit again with occaisional pain, but I was walking up and down "The Whetheral 99 steps" 46 times every session, cycling every morning and built myself up to 9 stone hoping one day to join the RAF. Then disaster. The back pain returned after an incident at work. This time it didn't go for 2 years. I lost a lot of weight feeling depressed and anxious. An MRI showed that 16 years ago I had broken my back in 3 places and it had never healed. The neurosurgeon gave me a list of things I would never do again on my 30th birthday like sit for more than 10 minutes! If I was to ever train again I would have to be very! careful. I was very thin I needed to build up but not overtrain - because my bones had to get stronger too. My Polar Monitor keeps me safe, preventing me from overtraining but letting me push myself too. It gave me the confidence to train again, to build my muscles again to support the broken frame and to get my mobility and fitness back. To get my quality of life back; my dreams back. I am now the fittest I have ever been and feel fantastic - and this time confident too - I know my body better than ever. I feel in control - Polar introduced me to that control and confidence. Now I feel I can achieve anything! Thank you to Polar who helped me to discover the power of the human body to heal and to achieve.