Case study - a horrendous car accident

1. The accident and initial injuries

In February 2005, body4life client Claudia Wild was involved in a head on car accident at a combined collision speed in excess of 110 mph.

Claudia suffered extensive and multiple injuries to both legs which included:

Whiplash
Completely shattered left ankle joint
Extensive internal damage to right knee
Extensive muscle and soft tissue damage to both legs
Compound fracture to Tibia (bone protruding outside the body)
Compound fracture to Fibula (bone protruding outside the body)

It took over an hour for the Fire Crew to cut Claudia out of the wreckage, where she was then rushed to hospital for extensive surgery which included six major leg operations in 48 hours. Post surgery there were considerable healing complications which were compounded by repeat infections and the huge area of scar tissue around the injury sites but at the end of 2005, Claudia was discharged from hospital.

2. After discharge from hospital

At the time of her discharge, Claudia was still suffering from severe leg muscle loss, muscle wastage, limited sensation, extreme difficulty in walking, continual pain, coordination problems and difficulty in balancing; together with significant limitations in all movements. In addition to these problems, Claudia could not rise from the floor without help or negotiate stairs unaided.

Claudia's condition did not improve over the next six months, so in June 2006, she approached body4life for treatment and rehabilitation.

3. body4life treatment and results

Following assessment, body4life created a comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation plan and treatment was started. With such severe trauma and because of Claudia's extensive injuries, treatment was very gradual but also progressive. Using a combination of deep tissue massage, developmental flexibility techniques, coordination drills, rehabilitation exercises and body4life's unique motivation to help her re-learn how to walk again; before the end of 2006, Claudia had made the following improvements:

Able to walk normally
Commenced re-learning how to jog
Walking up and down stairs unaided
Rising from the floor without difficulty
95% mobility in left ankle (because of the accident damage, Caudia will never regain 100% ankle mobility)

4. Claudia Wild - 7 months after starting treatment

Client X running Under specialist body4life guidance, Claudia is building up her strength in the gym and continuing to make excellent progress. The extent of her injuries means that it will take up to 12 months to fully regain her former strength but she is well on the way to hitting her target of being able to do everything that she could before her accident. Such is her improvement that after just 6 months treatment, she has been able to resume long distance running on soft ground, which is a fantastic achievement in view of the horrendous injuries that she has suffered.