A former international ice dancer has opened a new sports injury and Pilates clinic in Bowdon.
Lindsey Woolstencroft has fulfilled a long-held ambition by setting up her own business – and the result is Clinic Equilibrium on Hall Road.
Offering a full range of Pilates classes for all levels on both equipment and mats, Clinic Equilibrium will also be the first in the area to offer aerial Pilates.
“I’ve always wanted to set up on my own,” she says. “Even at university, I had a picture of a clinic in my head, what I wanted it to look like and how I wanted it to work.”
Below: Lindsey sitting on one of the clinic’s reformers
The 28-year-old, originally from Blackpool, has practised Pilates for 14 years after being advised to take it up as a teenage ice dancer to strengthen her core and posture.
Back then she was good enough to represent Team GB in ice dancing and went on to work as a professional performer and coach alongside Olympic champions in shows across the globe, including the Dutch and Belgian versions of Dancing on Ice.
In recent years, however, she has been working with the Defence Medical Services looking after injured military personnel and the Australian Physio and Pilates Institute, the country’s leaders in physio and Pilates treatment and education, down at its Wimbledon clinic.
The new clinic boasts four bed-like frames known as reformers, which are somewhat severe-looking pieces of equipment that Lindsey has imported from Argentina.
Below: More of the clinic’s equipment
“I was introduced to them while on internship in the States during my degree. I came back and thought ‘I need to do that’,” she adds.
The reformers aid the practice of Pilates by adding spring resistance via a pulley system.
“The beauty of training on a reformer is the way you can be challenged at any level,” she says. “For example, if someone is non weight-bearing post-operative, they can rehabilitate with small resistance right through to high resistance.
“Pilates originated in hospitals back in World War One when they would take all the springs out of the hospital beds and attach them to the walls so all the patients could still move all their limbs,” explains Lindsey. “Then they created these designs and they look no different 100 years later.”
Below: The clinic is located on Hall Road in Bowdon
As for the aerial Pilates, that’s done using hammocks suspended from the ceiling, using the simple force of gravity to aid stretching and resistance.
Lindsey has amassed around 100 clients over the past year, when she has been operating from Lymm. After finding that many of her regulars were based around Altrincham, she decided to make the move with her tree surgeon husband, Frazer, and 10-month-old son Freddie.
“Setting up my own clinic and studios is hugely exciting and the fulfilment of a dream I’ve had for a long time.”
More information, including details about services and a full timetable of classes, can be found on Clinic Equilibrium’s website.
