93-Year-Old Gymnast Crowned ‘The Oldest Champion Gymnast In The World’
She just can’t stop flipping and tumbling.
Friday, September 25th, 2020 | Neyeli Urpi
At 93, Shelia’s limber body moves like she is 23, and her bendy back puts many young gymnasts out of her league. Though, her story is not without blood, sweat and tears.
Shelia was a gymnastics prodigy, rising rapidly through the junior ranks. In her 20s, she dreamt of becoming a world champion gymnast. But during the peak of her performance, she got married and became pregnant. Shelia was faced with a tough decision: to be a champion gymnast or start a family.
She Chose Her Family
Shelia chose her family and became a mom for the first time. But she never gave up on her dream.
After several years, just when Shelia wanted to start training again, her dear husband passed away in a car accident, leaving Shelia and her daughter alone. She was forced to pick up a job to provide for her growing child.
Eventually, her daughter grew up and became independent, Shelia started hitting the gymnastics grounds again in her 50s.
Tumbling Through Life
During the national championship, she felt a sharp pain on her back while performing.
“After that, I couldn’t even stand for 10 minutes, let alone do cartwheels. Within days, my back pain got so bad I needed a wheelchair. And the pain gets much worse especially when I lay down in bed. It was so difficult to fall asleep. That was the most painful time of my life.” - Shelia
Shelia thought there was no choice left, that gymnastics is just not for her, and this broke her heart to pieces.
Many years passed, her passion for gymnastics was buried deep in her heart. Shelia became a grandmother, and eventually a great grandmother. Then one day, while she was passing by a gymnastics training center, she was shocked to see a girl in her gymnastics outfit…without a leg!
Little Girl With Great Impact
They started talking and what the little girl said took Shelia aback.
“It doesn’t matter if I have my legs or not, it shouldn’t keep me from doing what I love. If I can do it, you can do it too.” – little girl
Just like turning on the light’s switch, Shelia was awakened.
“That time, I thought to myself…Even a girl without her leg can pursue her passion, my back pain should not be an excuse. So I decided to dedicate my life to relieving my back pain. The day I stop doing gymnastics is the day I die.” – Shelia
Luck Was On Her Side Too
So she tried everything: medication, physical therapy, surgery…but they were all for nothing. Then, by sheer luck, Shelia met a spine specialist, Dr. Otis Brett. After trying to treat back pain for 32 years, here’s what he told her…
“Back pains commonly come with age, affecting literally everyone across the globe. Think of your spine like a freeway of nerves, transporting messages to and from the brain to every organ and muscle in the body. The nerves branch out from between each vertebra to coordinate every muscle, tissue and organ. If the vertebra begins to compress on the nerves, that’s when back pain happens.”
“Therefore, our spine needs to be aligned and supported to allow blood and nutrients to travel at speed to replenish the whole body in order to improve our body’s mobility and flexibility.” – Dr. Brett
The Life-Saving Breakthrough
To get Shelia back on her feet, Dr. Brett had to breathe in new life to Shelia’s aging spine. After 23 years of research, he discovered the key to curing back pain is in the sleeping position.
In general, humans spend almost half of their lives sleeping. Many people sleep with no adequate support in the spine, blocking the blood flow and pressing on nerves for more than 7 hours, which causes all the backaches and soreness as we age.
What Dr. Brett learnt is that by keeping the legs separated and stacked during sleep, it ensures the accurate position of the hips to keep the spine aligned. This way, the veins and nerves in our spine will be in the natural position, allowing the blood and nutrients to flow unobstructedly, eliminating back pain entirely.
He then tested this technique on hundreds of his patients. 98% claimed they felt instant pain relief! With that, Dr. Brett was determined to help more people around the world.
He created a special pillow that can be placed between the knees while you sleep, allowing you to have a pain-free back no matter what you do.
He calls it the Zadoff™.
Zadoff™
“Zadoff™ is shaped like an hourglass that provides support and balance to the hips. By putting it between the thighs while you sleep, it supports the legs and prevents the knees from pressing against each other, correcting the alignment of your spine, eliminating tensions in the spine to improve blood flow significantly.”
“It is made of high-quality memory foam that fits the thighs’ natural contours to provide maximum comfort and stability for the best quality of sleep.” – Dr. Brett
Shelia got one and tried it right away. What happened next was beyond her expectations.
“During the first night, I slept easier and woke up feeling so refreshed. Few days later, my back felt so much better than it was before, I could walk freely without assistance. Weeks later, I was able to do leaps and twists again!” - Shelia
Shelia shone with joy and went back into competition again. At 91, she competed in the Women’s World Championships and managed to finally bring home the golden trophy, even beating younger gymnasts in their 30s!
Success Comes With Making The Right Choices
“I was given one last chance to make a choice: to forget about my dreams or forget about my age. I’m glad I chose to forget about my age.” - Shelia
Now this 93-year-old is crowned the oldest champion gymnast in the world. This goes to show that it doesn’t matter how young or old you are, if you want it bad enough, there’s never a wrong time to go after your dreams.
“I may be old, but my body and spirit are young, all thanks to Zadoff™. It’s incredible that this special pillow can make all the difference.” – Shelia
If you know someone suffering with body pains, please share this story with them. Zadoff™ may just be the one that can ease their suffering.