Osteopathy Vancouver |
Article originalement
publié dans le Globe and Mail,
19 avril 2004
repris sur le site d'Osteopathy Vancouver
|
Préambule de Marc Jones
DO (UK), BSc(Hons)Ost, Osteopath (UK),
Whenever I see a patient for the first time, I
like to ask how they learned of the existence of
osteopathy as there are so few osteopaths in British
Columbia. On a number of recent occasions, I have
heard the same story recounted to me of a news
article about a Canadian Olympic diver whom had
little success with surgery and so turned to
osteopathy.
Here is the story of Canadian diver Myriam
Boileau and her encounter with Quebec manual
practise osteopath Guy Voyer.
The rest, as they say, is history ...
Article de Beverley Smith, Globe and Mail, 19
avril 2004
Before she sets foot on the 10-metre tower at the
Olympic trials this summer, veteran diver Myriam
Boileau figures she has already scored the greatest
victory of her career.
The triumph is that she is back diving at all.
The 26-year-old from Montreal suffered through 15
months of a back injury that was so serious she felt
she would never compete again.
"I was sure that it was impossible to be back in
diving," she said recently. She was more worried
about being able to walk.
Now she's chasing another dream. In her
illustrious career, she has never been to the
Olympic Games. When she became the World Cup tower
champion in 1997, she was the first Canadian diver
to win a major international event since Sylvie
Bernier took the gold medal at the Los Angeles Games
in 1984.
But women's diving in Canada has been so strong
in recent years that Boileau has not been able to
get out of the country, finishing third at the
Olympic trials in 1996 and in 2000. The competition
has been so good partly because of Boileau, who
pushes her opponents to be their best, performing
dives that they have to match, or better.
"She has been left off [Olympic teams]," Diving
Canada president Linda Cuthbert said. "She's been
painfully close.
"Myriam is a fantastic diver. . . .The Olympic
trials will be very significant because she can do
great on the international stage, but you've got to
make it out of Canada. That can be the biggest
challenge. Myriam is extremely determined.
"Boileau knows it will be a difficult task when
the trials begin in Winnipeg on June 4.
Her back has recovered, but she has had to learn
to compete all over again. "But every meet, it's
getting better," she said.
Boileau noticed a little pain in her back in
February of 2002 after she switched exercise
regimens. But she pressed on. The pain then became
unbearable, she said.
"I couldn't walk. I couldn't bike. I couldn't do
any exercises."At the end, I wasn't training. . . .
My sciatic nerve was pinched. When I was driving my
car, at a red light, I had to get out of my car and
walk a little bit.
"Eventually, a scan showed two herniated discs.
She underwent experimental back surgery in December
of 2002, but she still experienced pain, even when
simply walking. Diving seemed to be out of the
question.
Then she discovered Guy Voyer, an osteopath in
Quebec, whom she credits for saving her career. He
balanced her body alignment and treated her sciatic
nerve. She no longer feels pain.
Boileau did not hesitate to compete again. "I
realized more what I really want to do, why I want
to come back," she said. "It's to go to the Olympic
Games."
She knows the Canadian trials will be stressful,
especially when her competition includes Emilie
Heymans, the world champion on tower, who does a
difficult dive that no other woman in the world
attempts.
Boileau, because of the missed time, was unable
to learn many of the big dives that women are doing
internationally. Her top dive is a handspring
triple, with a degree of difficulty of 3.2. Other
women are doing dives rated at 3.4. The top men do
dives with 3.8 degrees of difficulty.
* Myriam Boileau was successful in the Olympic
trials and is representing Canada in the 2004
Olympic Games in Athens in the Womens 10M diving
event. |
