Christine Tan credits Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital for helping change her life
An 82-year-old woman from South London has proudly explained how she has rebuilt her strength and can now lift 10kg when a few years ago she couldn’t even lift a cup of tea.
Christine Tan broke her wrist in 2025 and struggled ever since to do basic tasks such as driving, lifting a cup of tea, or even carrying her shopping. Christine credits Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital for being pivotal in her recovery, thanks to their Lift for Life resistance programme.
Christine told MyLondon: “I’m really privileged that they [the hospital] helped me as I live in the area. At first, I thought I’d be disabled for life after my accident.
“I started off with a few exercises, and when I first went, I couldn’t even lift 1kg or even a cup of tea; I had no energy. Every time I went, I would increase the weights, and by the end of 10 weeks, I could do much better. I saw myself improving so much.
“I live alone, and I have to do things on my own, so it was hard, such as shopping and carrying bags, but now I can. I tell people about my experiences and encourage them to go and try. It’s important to keep active at our age. I go to the gym about four times a week, doing different classes, and do my best every day to do 10K steps.”
The Lift for Life resistance programme was introduced by physiotherapist James Cameron in October 2024. His goal was to help older adults improve their strength and balance, ultimately leading to healthy ageing.
The programme offers 10 weekly sessions at Guy’s Hospital, which is one of the first hospitals to carry out this type of strength training. The classes aim to improve functional fitness and build a programme which people can continue at home or in a local gym.
James told MyLondon: “Typically, the patients we deal with are patients who need strength and balance rehab. In my own gym, there’s a fundamental exercise class, and I wanted to offer a fundamental resistance programme for older adults. This can help them so they don’t fall in the next few years.
“We identified patients who needed it but we needed to know if they wanted it. We administered a questionnaire to patients, and over 90 per cent said they would be keen to join a strength-training class.
“You see massive improvements in them, and their confidence increases by the end. Christine, for example, had the confidence to try new things and engaged throughout it [the programme].
“Seeing people like Christine is very rewarding. Watching their enthusiasm grow, and the support I’ve had from members of my team, is great. As a team, we are always trying to be as innovative as possible, and we are always looking at improving patient satisfaction.”
The programme consists of 16 patients over 10 weeks, with the patients encouraged to continue the exercises after they finish the programme. The sessions will be a mix of resistance training, core, and balance exercises. It usually only takes in patients who live in Lambeth and Southwark.
Christine does chair yoga on Mondays, zumba on Tuesdays, tai chi on Wednesdays and on Fridays she does a longer strength class. She said: “[Lift for Life] was a good programme. I have friends who have broken bones but they were at different hospitals and never got these exercises – I’m lucky that I live here.”
Don’t miss out on the biggest local stories. Sign up to our MySouthLondon newsletter HERE for all the latest daily news and more
