Joanna Ng had been a professional personal trainer to our second son, Madan Tamil Selvan , since 2005. Madan was diagnosed by his specialists as having Scheuermann’s Disease (a form of juvenile osteochondrosis of the spine). As parents, we were at loss and worried about Madan’s walking gait, overall stature and his lack of confidence.
Joanna was knowledgeable and recommended a series of exercises to guide Madan to improve his alignment. The routines at the beginning included doing Pilates and body form on various equipment. Awareness of posture during movement like walking, stair-climbing, walking backward and forward was drilled all the time.
To improve his ribcage mobility and spinal articulation, Joanna guided him into Gyrotonic. His neck was so tight that she recommended MFR (Myofascial Release) to release muscle tension on his neck, shoulder and hamstring.
During the time that Joanna worked with Madan, her professionalism and knowledge in her expertise was exhibited. She noticed imbalances in Madan such as his left shoulder and hip was higher than the other side. She gave him homework and constantly reminded him to maintain it in his everyday life. Madan was taught deep breathing exercises and loud exhalation, a bit like Chi Kong to improve his circulation, shoulder opening and rib mobility among the various other exercises.
He was also taught how to multi task in areas where he was expected to maintain balance while involved in other skills like throwing, catching or movement of arms. He was put on the BOSU system to stand and practice his skills to strengthen his ankles and hips. It helped to improve his propriceptors in the long run, improve the connection of his legs and improve posture of his upper body.
Her focus was always on Madan achieving improvement on his stamina and alignment. Joanna is guided by her belief in improving Madan’s lifestyle. Her commitment is inherent in her dedication and drive to ensure Madan’s overall progress in his posture, walking gait and for him to enjoy life to the fullest.
We are pleased to see Madan grown in confidence, cheerful and happy under Joanna guidance. His overall alignment improved by eleven degrees from an bent angle of 55 to 44 degrees bringing it very close to a normal posture of an average person. This we feel would not have been possible even with Madan wearing a brace throughout the same period. His specialist Doctor is very pleased with his progress and Madan still continues his training with Joanna.
We would highly recommend Joanna Ng as a committed and dedicated fitness instructor in supporting people in Pilates, fitness and creative solutions. We wish her well in the future.