Client of the month - Simon Patton

In July last year Simon had his right leg amputated below the knee, due to a congenital condition that was compromising his quality of life. Simon spent approximately 5 months in a wheelchair, during this time he lost a significant amount of muscle mass and function. During our initial assessment in October last year, his standing tolerance was only 1 minute before needing to rest.

Since then, we have worked on improving Simon's strength, coordination and standing tolerance, to the point where he can now walk independently on his prosthetic leg, a significant achievement for him.

Simon recently attended a mobility clinic run by Ossur (gait aid manufacturer), where he was voted by Ossur Ambassadors and Paralympians to receive a free running blade, something he has had his eye on getting to enable him to be more agile and progress to running. Simon has also recently been selected by Ossur to go on a snow trip to Thredbo in NSW. Having never tried snow sports before, Simon is eager to learn this new skill as he is always up for a new challenge.

In our first appointment 6 months ago, Simon set a number of goals which included:

• increase independence around the home

• spend less time in wheelchair

• build strength to enable him to use prosthetic leg

• return to driving

Over the last 6 months he has achieved all of the above, an amazing effort and great reward for his commitment and effort put in to his training.

Simon has now set a new goal, to run a 5km event at the Melbourne Marathon Festival in October this year.

We will use our EP sessions over the coming months to build up Simon’s muscular strength and endurance, and work on gait mechanics using his new running blade to assist him to complete this long duration event.

With his go-getter attitude, positive outlook on life and commitment to improving himself everyday, we have no doubt Simon will achieve this goal and much more. Well done Simon! Not only you do you inspire us all to be our best, but you are an absolute pleasure to work with and have training around the place