Debbie Cooke - Back Out & About

Debbie Cooke had always lived an active life before a horseriding accident, coupled with osteoarthritis, left her with crippling knee pain.

When she recently discovered Flexiseq, things started to change for the better.

This is Debbie’s story….

You have to be really fit to be in the Army, which I was for three and a half years as a Royal Engineer. I went on all the exercises, was part of the squash team, ran every day. At the peak of my fitness, I even did Nijmegen - a 100-mile march for four days across Holland. As I said, I was fit, but I also put a lot of wear and tear on my knees.

Nowadays, I work for Wrigley’s - the chewing gun maker - in Plymouth. The job is very manual, I’m up and down ladders and lifting weights all day. I’ve been doing it for 25 years.

I hurt my knee in a riding accident about five years ago. I was riding on a beach in Devon when my horse got its footing wrong in wet sand and I came off. I broke my pelvis, lower back, hip and nose and lost two pints of blood. I had to be air-lifted to hospital and was in traction for five days. They had to put a pin my hip and a plate in my pelvis but the brunt of my injury was on my left side. It’s the knee on that side that causes me issues today.

Initially, it started to heal but over the course of the last 12 months, the pain in that knee has grown steadily worse. Wrigley’s were great and sorted six free physio and chiropractor sessions for a year but things didn’t improve. I took painkillers, had steroid injections, tried Ibuprofen gels and sports massages and even changed my footwear but nothing got rid of the pain.

X-Rays later revealed that I had osteoarthritis and that I needed a knee replacement. However, because I’m only 49, I don’t qualify for the full operation. Instead, they offered me a partial replacement that would last 10 years. I’m still waiting for it to happen.

At times, the pain has been so bad that I’ve had to crawl upstairs on all fours. Coming down, I’d have to take each step one at a time. I had so little strength in my knee that I wasn’t even able to walk my springer spaniel Rocky, and we both started to put on weight!

Having tried so many products, I was a bit sceptical when one of my partner’s golfing buddies recommended Flexiseq. My partner was determined to make me give it a go.

Amazingly, I noticed a difference from day two! I’m now able to walk Rocky every day. He’s so much happier as a result and is losing the weight. I’m also able to get down the stairs normally and can sleep through the night without pain. Having taken so many painkillers in the past, I love that Flexiseq is drug-free. I don’t need Ibuprofen, naproxen, tramadol...nothing, Flexiseq is all I use.

By and large, people with long-standing knee problems tend to try a lot of different rubs and alike without success. I always tell people, that I was in the same position but that Flexiseq works for me. My next-door neighbour is a former rugby player with bad knees, I’ve recommended it to him, and I’ve also recommended it to my dad.

Thanks to Flexiseq I’m able to get out and about.