Mytime Active Stories - Jackie

Better late than never: how Jackie found the fun in fitness

Jackie came to Mytime Active in the spring of 2023 after an NHS health check showed signs of non diabetic hyperglycaemia. The healthcare assistant at her GP surgery advised her to lose weight and suggested she take more exercise.

However, osteoarthritis in both her knees made it difficult for Jackie to do any exercise, other than walking her black Labrador, Dexter, so the healthcare assistant referred her to Mytime Active’s free 12-week Fresh Start Friendly programme.

Where do I sign?

Jackie says: “I was keen to explore anything to help manage my knee pain, but during my induction with Steffie I explained that exercising in a gym was not only beyond my comfort zone, I didn’t feel I would enjoy it. Steffie asked what type of exercise I did enjoy and I told her I love exercising in water as I can work much harder in a pool than I can out of water; I’d had hydrotherapy following my hip replacement surgery in 2014, which I enjoyed so much I carried on going twice a week once the rehab course finished until Covid hit. 

“When Steffie told me about the Water Wellbeing class at The Spa at Beckenham my immediate reaction was ‘where do I sign?’.  She laughed and said I had to do my referral course first.”

That was all the incentive Jackie needed and she diligently turned up to the gym every week; she even started to look forward to going.  She says: “My friends would chuckle and say ‘who are you and what have you done with Jackie?’.”

Meanwhile Jackie started to lose a few pounds and feel better all round. In September 2023, after Steffie completed her assessment, she signed up for a health membership, attended her first Water Wellbeing class and loved it.

Finding her feet, and new friends

She says: “Exercising in water is low impact, strengthens muscles and reduces pain for conditions like arthritic knees, so the Water Wellbeing class is ideal for me. We exercise to music, which instantly creates a feel good factor, and Steffie’s enthusiasm is infectious.

“A lot of us have arthritic conditions and so we support each other through our various knee surgeries and the ups and downs of life in general; there’s even a What’s App group where we keep in touch.” 

Many of the group also attend other classes in the Fresh Start Friendly programme, including Functional Fitness, Functional Movement and Simply Sosa Fitness.  Jackie says: “I was never one to take lots of exercise, other than walking the dog or gardening, but after losing Dexter to cancer of the spleen in February 2024 I stopped walking every day, so my exercise sessions became all the more important. I really look forward to all the the classes, but exercising in water is particularly beneficial because I just relax when I am there. All of a sudden in my seventies I’ve realised exercise really does improve your overall sense of wellbeing and general health. Better late than never I guess!”

Jackie had been putting off going to see the orthopaedic surgeon about her knee pain, but 18 months on from starting Water Wellbeing she made an appointment and X-rays showed both knees needed replacing. 

“He was really pleased I’d found a low impact exercise regime that worked for me and encouraged me to continue right up until the first knee surgery in September 2025. After the op I worked hard at my physio sessions, did my exercises daily and was back in the pool by early December,” explains Jackie.

“The recovery after my second knee replacement this March was more protracted due to issues with the wound healing and there was a further delay due to holidays, but Mytime Active were really good about freezing my membership. In September, after almost five months off, I was so happy to be back in the pool – I worked through the first session with a huge smile on my face.”

Jackie recently started a seated stretch class, also run by Steffie as part of the Fresh Start Friendly programme, and attends with a lady she knows through Water Wellbeing who has also undergone knee surgery.

“One of the benefits of being part of the programme is that you get to meet people who have similar health challenges. Everyone is so friendly. Steffie fosters an atmosphere of camaraderie and team spirit, which makes it so much more than just attending an exercise class,” says Jackie. “I sent the healthcare assistant at my GP surgery a card on her retirement, thanking her for making such a huge difference to my health and wellbeing by referring me to a programme I may not otherwise have discovered.”