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THEWOKINGHAMPAPER
THE VOICE OF THE BOROUGH
Fibro group push to save hydro pool
WOKINGHAM.TODAY
Thursday, September 3, 2020 No. 277
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EXCLUSIVE By SUE CORCORAN news@wokinghampaper.co.uk A MUM is fighting to save the Royal Berkshire Hospital’s treatment pool which she says makes a huge difference to the life of herself and others.
Debra Langley, 53, from Wokingham, has fibromyalgia, a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body. She is also epileptic. She said physio sessions in the RBH hydrotherapy pool give her blessed relief, reducing her pain and stiffness – and making her happier. Now Ms Langley fears a new public consultation into the pool’s future will end with the pool, closed since March due to Covid-19, shutting for ever. She and fellow members of Reading and District Fibromyalgia Group’s hydrotherapy section are campaigning to keep the pool which they hire for sessions. Ms Langley says she and her friends are “a lot of stiffer and not as mobile” since the pool’s Covid closure. “My pain levels are higher now, I have more flare ups,” said Ms Langley. She feels hydrotherapy has benefits over land based physio: “A physiotherapist comes into the water to show us different movements to help us. “The water, which is warm, supports your body. In the pool I can exercise parts I can’t otherwise. “I can do twists: I wouldn’t dream of doing them on land, it hurts too much. “The difference is quite remarkable, and it’s lovely. My body gets looser, not so stiff.” Her son Dominic, 16, a former St Crispin’s School pupil going onto Reading College, is her young carer and sees his mum change after hydrotherapy. “He tells me I’m happier because I’m not hurting so much,” she said. Ms Langley, a former administrator, also has carers to help her shower. � Continued on page 22
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