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Physiotherapy: Freedom Throughout the Years – By Janique Farand-Taylor
2007
Dear Janique,
It has been a while since we have had any contact, but I wanted to tell you what an incredibly positive impact you continue to have on my quality of life. I ran the Toronto marathon this past weekend and although (I) was only moderately pleased with my time (3:51), I was absolutely thrilled that I went into the marathon and came out the other side with very few back problems! Three or four years ago, I would have never imagined it possible.
Toward the end of my training, I definitely felt the additional strain on my back, but I just upped the effort on my "Janiques" (that's what I call your exercises), and it was enough to keep my back in order. My back held up particularly well during the marathon and I have had no "fall-out" at all since then - it is actually feeling great right now.
I know I need to stay committed to these exercises for the rest of my life, but I have experienced what an incredible difference  they make to my comfort, well being and my ability to pursue my athletic goals - it is SO worth it!
Your confidence and encouragement, your realistic outline of the time and commitment it would take, and your incredible expertise has made such a difference to my life - THANK YOU! Despite the setbacks, you encouraged me to keep looking forward. You are SO good at what you do and I have benefited greatly from it.
I will likely be in touch in the near future to book an appointment. I'm going to think about what my new goals will be and what things I will need to work on to get there - I would love your expert opinion.
With gratitude and respect,
Heather
2009
Dear Janique,
I wanted to let you know that you continue to have such a positive impact on my life.
My back continues to be quite healthy. Any time that it does start to act up, it is inevitably because I have let the exercises slip. But, you have given me a lifelong gift of the knowledge and motivation to get back on track.
I have had a particularly good year of running. The Angus Glen Half marathon on November 1st will be my 6th and final race for the season. Since April, I've run 2 half marathons, a 30k, a 24hr- 320k relay (with 8 team mates) and I just ran a marathon on the weekend with a PB and BQ of 3:43. I'm running smarter these days and am allowing for more recovery time when necessary. Although I was worried that I wasn't "maxing" out the mileage like I thought I should, in fact, putting more emphasis on recovery was the secret to running the most comfortable and fastest marathon in my 8 years of running. I am also doing a yoga DVD at home a few times a week and I think that has helped tremendously as well.
I wanted to share with you further evidence of the power of your core strengthening program. I was having some back issues in August as I had been slipping a bit and not doing my "Janiques" on a regular basis and I think I had become a bit lazy about my technique. I decided to go right back to page one of your book, starting the whole routine over again. It was so powerful to refocus on those basic isolating moves. I realized that I had lost some technique and that my muscles were not as equally balanced as they should be. I spent the last 6 weeks just doing the first few exercises of each series and found a whole new level of core strength returning and with that, my back felt better and my long runs were no longer aggravating my back.
I ran the entire 42k this weekend with NO back discomfort at all!
It is bittersweet to not have seen you in a while. Although happy that I don't have any injuries that require your services!
Thank you again for all that you have given me.
Sincerely,
Heather
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