How many times have you laughed at someone skidding, tripping, losing their balance or falling flat on their face?
Accidents can be funny, but sometimes they cause serious life-changing injuries in a matter of seconds. In 2019, 47-year-old Tim Jones experienced exactly that.
A Freak Accident
Tim suffered a C5 incomplete spinal cord injury while wakeboarding – an activity he had done 100s of times. His injury resulted in him being paralysed from the neck down and he was hospitalised. Tim was initially admitted to John Radcliffe Hospital where he had an operation to decompress his spine. Two months later he moved to Stoke Mandeville spinal unit where he had four months of rehabilitation.
Stepping up to the challenge
Tim is a family man from Hertfordshire. A lover of outdoor sports, he enjoys a variety of pursuits including tennis, cycling and trekking. He also has a passion for poker and holds poker nights/weekends through his events company Prestige Poker.
Tim struggled to sit still and was always out and about with family and friends. Suffering this type of injury was devastating and Tim wondered whether he would be able to walk again, play tennis or poker, as his arms, legs, and hands were all affected.
He attended daily physio sessions at Stoke Mandeville spinal hospital which included basic Pilates and weight sessions to prevent further deterioration. On December 19, 2020, Tim was discharged from Stoke Mandeville.
Forward-thinking mindset
After leaving Stoke Mandeville, Tim was keen to continue his rehabilitation.
He’d never been to a gym before his accident and didn’t know where to turn to as the NHS does not have an aftercare rehabilitation system in place.
Before his discharge from Stoke Mandeville, one of the consultants recommended Neurokinex. It was important to Tim that after his injury his rehabilitation was tailored to his challenging needs and intense to maximise his recovery. After completing an initial assessment with our training expert Stephen, he was keen to get started.
Road to Recovery
On January 25, 2021, Tim embarked on his road to recovery through the Neurokinex Step-Up Scheme. Designed for newly injured people, it offers six free sessions with a unique rehabilitation approach.
Tim came to Neurokinex with a hunched posture and aching shoulders, limited mobility in his arms and hands and back pain. He was keen on learning some new physical techniques to help his mobility but soon learned the most effective technique was setting small challenges to build up to a realistic goal.
Neurokinex created a tailored activity-based rehabilitation programme that encompassed Tim’s posture issues, mobility and strength.
Fast forward eight months and Tim is now able to drive giving him back his independence. His posture has also improved, irradicating the dull aching sensation in his shoulders that he used to live with. His arms and hands are becoming more mobile and stronger which has allowed Tim to return to playing poker. He even got a compliment from his wife that his back had changed and how muscular it was looking.
Define your boundaries or boundaries will define you
When we think about boundaries, we tend to think of limitations. However, with the right advice and support, those limitations
can be changed into adaptations.
Tim combined his competitive nature from sport and outdoor activities with a willingness to better himself to adapt to what he wanted to do. His passion and goals are to be back playing poker, enjoying weekends out with family and friends and resuming his outdoor pursuits. His activity-based rehabilitation goals were to increase mobility and strength in his upper body and to be able to be more independent and less reliant on his wife.
Setting small, achievable targets has helped Tim pick up playing poker again and he is well on his way to ticking off the rest of his goals.
“I am so glad I found Neurokinex and can honestly say without their help, my recovery would be nowhere near where it is now,” says Tim. “Stephen has been amazing at understanding my needs and goals and makes every session fun and different – I didn’t know there were so many ways to work the same muscles!
“For me, Neurokinex is a game changer, and I would recommend them to anyone who finds themselves in an unfortunate position such as my own.”
