Already bonded for ever in WA football folklore, John Parkinson now also feels connected in life with fellow Sandover medallist Brady Anderson.
More than 50 years have passed since Parkinson, better known as “Buzz”, tied with WA football legend Bill Walker for the 1967 Sandover Medal — a prize that will be awarded again on Monday night.
But just six months ago, as he was being denied simple pleasures such as a walk or a round of golf, he was convinced his football days were fast-tracking his transition into an older life.
The 73-year-old former Claremont rover had been told by doctors he needed a double-knee replacement to correct worsening bone-on-bone pain in both joints, and he was accepting it as fact.
“It was gradually getting worse. My knees were getting more and more painful and I was just hobbling around,” Parkinson said.
“I couldn’t walk a golf course and just thought it was part of the process of getting older.”
But Parkinson was urged by his golfing mates to give Anderson’s self-taught Body Movement Method a try before heading to surgery, and he has been startled by the rapid improvement in his health as Anderson helped unlock his problems.
He said being treated by a fellow member of the WAFL’s exclusive Sandover Medal club for the past six months had added a special touch.
“I believe that what Brady is doing is the new future of medical science,” he said.
“The medical view is that you need someone to fix you; the philosophy of my method is that the body has the ability to heal itself.” - Brady Anderson
“As you get older, the right muscles go to sleep and the wrong muscles get stronger and you get out of sync. Then you just think you need a knee replacement because that’s what everyone does.
“But now I look forward to the simple things like going for a walk around Lake Claremont, going fishing or a game of golf.
“And it’s not just what it does for your knees or your legs, your whole wellbeing is better.”
The West Australian recently revealed there were 4417 patients wanting orthopaedic operations on growing elective surgery waiting lists in WA.
Anderson, who won his Sandover Medal playing for East Perth in 1997, said he had confronted many critics and cynics who did not believe in his method, but he was adamant he could help many of the waiting patients before they went under the knife.
He said he developed his corrective exercise method during his playing days for East Perth, North Melbourne and Swan Districts and scoured the globe daily for medical research, which helped him continually hone his craft.
Anderson said his method helped patients such as Parkinson to use their muscles properly to create space around the bones and allow cartilage to regrow in as little as 11 weeks.
“I get very motivated and it’s my life to try and educate people that there is an alternative,” the 42-year-old said.
“Buzz was a typical bone-on-bone case and I just had to use the model to teach him a new way to move.
“Anderson said his method helps patients such as Parkinson to use their muscles properly to create space around the bones and allow cartilage to regrow in as little as 11 weeks.”
Parkinson said his daughter Nicole, 40, had also recently become one of Anderson’s success stories.
She had suffered back problems that had her scheduled for spinal fusion surgery.
“She had chronic pain and all she wanted was two hours a day to be pain-free so she could do her chores,” he said.
“She’s now pain-free and can’t stop giggling. She said she has her life back.”
The West Australia Article by Steve Butler link here: