Parring the Course

She’s had two knee replacements, but you won’t find this grandmother in a rocking chair, thanks to Pilates.

- Ann White

I have two fake knees and a bad ankle. Sounds pretty typical for a 72-year-old, right? You might expect that I spend a lot of time sitting on the sofa reading or putting my feet up and watching TV. But I’ve always been very active. In high school, I was on the basketball and field hockey teams, and played tennis and golf. I’m a terrible couch potato, so the idea of being stuck in a chair and not being able to move my body always drove me crazy. I needed an exercise method that would condition my body without causing more damage to my joints. Thankfully five years ago, I found Pilates.

STARTING DOWNHILL

An accident when I was 21 set the stage for major knee and ankle issues decades later. I was skiing in Vail, CO with my about-to-be ex- boyfriend. I was a near-beginner, and he was an avid skier. He took me to the top of the mountain, where I fell at least three dozen times on the first half. I told him I needed to get to the bottom and take a lesson, so he tightened my bindings, put me on an easy trail without a map and went off to do his thing!

I ended up going down a too-steep slope and hit some rough terrain; when I fell, my bindings did not release. I flopped on my left side and saw my leg move in a place where there was no joint. After the ski patrol got me down the mountain, and I was X-rayed, it turned out I had a double spiral fracture. After a three-hour ambulance ride to Denver, I was in surgery for another three hours, a full cast for three months and a half cast for six weeks. They didn’t do rehab back then, so I just walked a lot to build my leg back up once the cast (and the boyfriend) were gone. And then it was off to being a sporty girl again!

A FULL, ACTIVE LIFE