About Me

My name is Susan. I'm 52 years old. I live on the West Coast of Scotland with my husband Paul and two Beagles - Beanie and Biggles.

We've been running our own software development company since 2003 creating business software and selling it to a worldwide market. My husband Paul is a talented photographer and I've always gravitated towards web design. We've recently started building a little 'fun' business centered around that to keep us happy and busy in semi-retirement.

Our hobbies are mostly fitness related. We met many years ago through martial arts practice and have always enjoyed doing fitness related hobbies together. As well as martial arts we love running, hill walking, strength training - particularly gymnastics/calisthenics type techniques such as pullups, levers, muscleups and flags. Our hill walking hobby meshes nicely with Paul's passion for photography and we spend many, many happy days and nights out in the Scottish mountains capturing glorious sunrises, sunsets and stunning vistas from remote mountain summits.

My Battle with Hip Osteoarthritis - and my Ultimate Victory

For most of my adult life my passion was Martial Arts. At age 42 (2005) I felt better and fitter than I ever had at 20 or 30. I never had injuries and I always recovered quickly from hard training sessions. One day, after a particularly taxing training session I was cooling down (walking) on a treadmill at the gym and felt a tweak in my groin - very mild. I gave my leg a shake thinking it just a bit of cramping but it didn't go away. I expected it to be fine by the morning but it just didn't clear up. A few days later I noticed that I'd lost flexibility. Within a month I'd lost range of motion in all directions and didn't have enough hip extension to stand up straight or walk without a limp. By the end of 2006 I'd been given a devastating diagnosis of hip OA with a poor prognosis if I continued to enjoy my active life.

For many years - probably due to my martial arts training - I had a keen interest in human biomechanics and sports science. In particular I was always fascinated by the human response to aging and to what degree it could be prevented through exercise. Martial arts was something that you pursue for life - always breaking down physical and mental barriers and seeking to improve. Consequently you get to see at close quarters how other people age. It always fascinated me that there were a number of invisible barriers that people would hit. Some would sail through them and others fall by the wayside. Reaching 40 was one where a lot of people started to fall apart. Then another at 65. Why did some continue to perform like 20 year olds well into old age whilst others seized up and looked old and immobile?

That interest and the mind set I'd developed during my karate years proved to be a life saver as it compelled me to ignore the health professionals and relentlessly seek out a cure. I had a First Class Honors Degree in Computer Science - with my life on the line I was certain my education would give me the tools I needed to grasp the necessary knowledge to systematically diagnose the REAL problem and come up with a cure. (See my research page to learn how a software engineer approaches the osteoarthritis puzzle!)

For 9 years I battled the symptoms. I consulted countless experts and educated myself about every imaginable related topic.

There were lots of bad times. In 2012 I developed severe shoulder impingement in both shoulders; my neck was so stiff I couldn't turn to look behind me; for 6 months I had chronic 24/7 pain that couldn't be controlled by drugs; I developed bunions, achilles tendonitis, plantar fascitis and countless other minor aches, pains and dysfunctions. However, I learned a number of techniques for reducing or eliminating pain so aside from the 6 months of chronic pain I was largely free of bad pain - mainly just a bit of soreness and stiffness. Throughout this time I knew I could beat it - it really wasn't hard to hang in and keep fighting. By December 2013 I knew exactly what was wrong. It was early 2015 before I finally resolved all symptoms.I'm now back to full functionality - not only has the hip OA gone completely but so too have all the other aches, pains and dysfunctions that developed over the last decade. At age 52 I'm fitter and stronger than I've ever been in my life. Fitter and stronger than most people half my age!

My mission now is to see how well I can keep everything working through my 50's, 60's and beyond. Having got a well functioning body back after all these years I plan on keeping it!