In 2015, A Life of Education founder, Caroline Leon survived a life threatening rock-climbing accident, after she fell 7m. Over the course of 2 years she under went 14 surgeries to repair; two shattered calcanei, reconstruct multiple broken bones in her foot, realign and lengthening tendons in her feet, along with re-attaching her shattered right ilium, completely reconstructing her right pubic bone, along with complete replacing/reconstructing her T12, L1 & L2 vertebrae. Over the course her rehabilitation process Caroline was fortunate to receive treatment, support and advice from some of the best surgeons, doctors, osteopaths, physiotherapists, hydro-therapists and manual therapists in Dubai.
By the time Caroline had taught herself to walk again, albeit not perfectly still suffering from trendelenburg gait and mid recovery from recent pelvic, spinal and foot reconstructions, it was time for her to progress and step out of the clinical setting. Her quest to find a rehabilitation instructor to effectively take her through this complex stage of her rehab, proved more difficult than anticipated.
After numerous negative and disappointing experiences, after featuring on Dubai Eye fm radio, Caroline was finally recommended by show presenter Suzanne Radford, to contact rehabilitation specialist Keith O'Malley-Farrell from The Physical Training Company. Keith had a wide ranging experience rehabilitating patients recovering from complex trauma injuries during his time working in the UK with the British Military.
Over the course of many conversations during these later stages of her rehabilitation, it had become clear from both a patient and a therapist's perspective, that there was a huge gap when applying knowledge and best practices between the medical community and the fitness industry. While the general health and fitness community was well versed in weight loss, body building, yoga, pilates and personal training, as a whole, the in-depth understanding of the complexities involved with effectively supporting those confronted with out of the ordinary challenges, just didn't do the industry justice.
From this, Caroline invited Keith to collaborate with her and A Life of Education was born. The aim was to create a new platform for the health and fitness community to broaden and deepen their understanding of the always developing field of human sciences, by watching and learning from those specialists in their individual fields while also making continuing professional development and education more attractive by making it more flexible, more accessible and more affordable.