back – Ascension

Shelly Westergard

The Carny — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 04:31:13 +0000

Profile: Mother, wife, skier, care-giver.

Injury: Undiagnosable Back Pain

Issue: Mothering is hard work.

“You should go see Ian”. Sure, friend, I’ll go see your rehab guy.

I’d been at this for too many years to think much of these conversations, as a mother of three little ones. I did NOT want to spend any more of my time, money, or mental energy on this. Just let me lay in peace with my heat pack, moving only when beckoned by family duties, and I’ll just cross my fingers that someday I won’t be walking around wearing this mask of pain, as one physiotherapist had called it. I had been at this for 8 years. After my first child was born something in my lower back and hips went weird, scans hadn’t showed anything of significance. I was told to seek out my own therapy and find what worked for me. From Osteopaths to Chiropractors to cortisone shots and yoga classes, I had not found what worked for me. Finally I was handed a pain killer prescription. This did not fly with me. And thankfully with my friend either.

When I finally went and saw Ian, walking into the gym was terrible for my nerves (he later taught me nerve flossing). It’s amazing in there, so inspiring what these extreme athletes are doing. While he was busy shouting out orders from across the gym to the super fit clients, throwing looks at people telling them they were doing something wrong or why hadn’t they been in in a while, cracking a joke and laughing loudly, he finally saw my pathetic stride and hollered me over. He is like no other. I don’t even quite remember what he did with me in those first days except that he had exercises and techniques I had never before seen, a lot of “try this”, “try that”, “how did that feel”… hours spent one on one, and sometimes while he was again shouting at others, but he was thinking, he was sorting some algorithm out regarding my injured weirdness in his magical brain. And he did it. He had me relaxed (eventually) and rolling, strengthening, and stretching in techniques I had never been privy too. He treated my pain carefully, individually, and thoughtfully.

What was this place? Why is not everyone here?

I move now. Without the mask of pain. He pushed me, and pulled me back, and while it was not without tears, insecurities, and finding my voice to vie for his attention, a day never ended with the unmanageable pain that I had first walked in with. It took about 6 months till he was shouting out things to me and I am forever grateful to this place, to Ian and his family of support that is Ascension Fitness.

Shelley Westergard

Lynnette Oliver

The Carny — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 04:29:58 +0000

Profile: Runs, Swims, Climbs, Plays

Injury: Herniated Disc

Issue: Easily distracted by dolphins

The minute to minute experience of being, well, not in pain, is unexplainable unless you have lived in that reality.

Ian’s ability to asses, collaborate with other team members, and treat injury is unmatched. Having seen numerous practitioners and taken to alternative therapies without relief, I cannot articulate the magic that is the change I have experienced. But beyond that, Ascension is a place where I’ve come to know community, regain a passion for movement, and a fervour for adventure.

Lynnette Oliver, RN

Tristan MacDonald

The Carny — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 04:25:53 +0000

Profile: Skier, trouble-maker, too tall.

Injury: Knees/Back

Issue: Thinks he is a lumberjack.

Game Changer – Not Exaggerating

I first met Ian at a backcountry event he was speaking at and I asked him if he could help me with my knee which had been giving me problems since my first ACL reconstruction back in 2002 (I met Ian in 2015). When I met Ian I had accepted that I may not ski that season (wouldn’t have been the first season I missed all or part of due to my knee) but Ian had other plans. Ian invited me to come to his gym the next day and over the course of the next two weeks and beyond he and I made more progress with my knee than I had made in years of seeing physio‘s, sports med docs, trainers, getting shots of Durolane, etc.

Ian’s approach was different than I’d ever seen and instead of telling me to do the same lunges, squats and other standard physio exercises I had been told to do for more than a decade, Ian started off by looking into what was happening with the rest of my body. I could go on and on, but to summarize, Ian’s approach towards my knee injury exposed me to a new way of thinking about my body, my joints, muscles, tissue, etc., and my knee is still much better to this day.

Sound too good to be true? Well, you do have to deal with Ian peppering you with “words of encouragement” that some might call aggressive, but hey, it’s all part of the Ian experience!

More recently, I injured my back and after 2 months of chiro with very little progress I went to see Ian (I moved to BC a while back which is why I haven’t been seeing Ian all along) l. Long story short, repeat of my knee injury story, Ian had his own approach, got me moving and strengthening again, tortured me by jamming his evil thumbs and elbows into various parts of my body, and here I am well on my way to overcoming my back injury. Ian’s gym and its members are simply different, a great bunch of people who are all there because of Ian and the environment for self-improvement he has created.