In her youth, Esme Simper, 42, was a dedicated ballet dancer, however, in retirement, her joints started to stiffen. The issue seriously impacted her day-to-day life, taking a toll on her ability to walk her dog and play with her daughter.
In 2019 Esme took part in the Flexiseq Experience Study to see if Flexiseq’s drug-free action could help her get moving more freely again.
Here is Esme’s story.
I started dancing when I was just 6-years-old. My mum used to take me into London to dance in shows and I eventually turned professional for the London Ballet. I did that until I was 30.
Since then, the last 10 to 13 years, I’ve lived in terrible pain. My joints just started seizing up. I loved dancing, it was my life, but I just can’t do it anymore. It doesn’t help that I also had a car accident in which I suffered really bad whiplash. I’ve had a lot of general aches and pains as a result. I also have early-onset arthritis in my fingers which is hereditary. It’s very painful when I’m doing gardening and cooking.
My everyday life hinges on the pain. If you feel decrepit it’s not fun. It’s terrible. I’ve got a three-year-old and running around after her is hard work. I don’t feel old in myself but my body does. I want to be able to do all the things that my mum did with me. I love to walk my dog, a rescue dog that needs lots of exercise, but as you can imagine, that’s quite tough too.
I’ve been on painkillers every day. A combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen. I’m worried about putting anything stronger in my body. If I take anything too strong, I feel a bit zonked out. I mostly just work through the pain, you get on with it. You have to! I also use hot and cold therapy, and that helps as well. I find that I just get on with it. That’s why Flexiseq was such a breakthrough. It took a few weeks to kick in but it’s almost a miracle!
I didn’t notice a difference immediately. I thought, ‘oh, it’s not going to work’ and then I was looking back at the number of steps [as part of the Study all participants wore a fitness tracker] I’d done from the week before and I realised it was working. It was incredible. I could walk the dog. And I wasn’t living in constant pain! You’ve got to give it a chance. I recommended it to my mum and she’s quite impatient. I said, you’ve got to give it two to three weeks to see the benefits.
Flexiseq worked so well for me. I’ve not stopped using it since it’s been a real breakthrough. Because the pain wasn’t so bad, I could go further. My little dog, he loves to play ball and I found myself running around after him. I thought about getting him a dog walker at one point, but I don’t need to do that anymore. Flexiseq helps me go for longer.
I always thought I didn’t sleep well because of the pain. And I’m always up and down in the night. I can probably say that because I am now more active and the pain is considerably less I am sleeping a good seven or eight hours a night. Sometimes more.
I’ve recommended Flexiseq to a lot of people, lots of my dancer friends who are now having knee problems, they are using it. I think it’s fantastic.
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