No pill can substitute movement

    Oksana Slinko’s life motto is simple and profound: “Life in movement.” She acknowledges that spine diseases of young people and children become more and more widespread. Her exercises are attended by the people of different ages suffering from scoliosis, dysplasia of hip joint, flat-footedness, torticollis, shortened extremities and post traumatic problems… She is ready to help because she is sure that spine is the stem of health, and it must be dynamic and flexible. Her authoring methodology is based on improving spine muscle tone and on development of its flexibility.

    Oksana elaborated her exercises herself since none of the existing well known methods suited her. She challenged many of the existing prohibitions of therapeutic exercises and it all turned out for the best. Now she helps others.

    “I revived crawling method and I combine it with asymmetric gymnastics,” explains Oksana. “As far as I know no one does this in Ukraine. Taking a certain position, when the spine is absolutely relieved of any pressure, a person is doing the so called redressing moves in the direction opposite from the spine deformation. I take pictures of all the newcomers and fill in medical chart for each client, prescribing an individual complex of exercises. Then the result can be compared even by the photos…

    Oksana told me about one of her clients who several months ago had excessive weight and was always in a bad mood. Now this girl is very cheerful, in good shape, illuminating femininity and health. Recently Oksana was visited by the girl’s mother who was very excited to tell her:

    “You gave birth to her! She became completely different – both in her appearance and by her nature.”

    Oksana knows that “to be born again” means more than simple words. She herself once was a reserved sad girl who didn’t talk much and was ashamed of herself.

    The complex of exercises that she is prescribing for scoliosis, cyphosis and lordosis, osteochondrosis and other diseases of musculorskeletal system is patented as the invention in medicine. She has been applying it for over 15 years.

Why is the Centre called “Akademia Gracia”?

    Because it sounds harmoniously. “Akademia” – because we conduct a scientific research. “Gracia” – when translated from Italian – means posture. Our logotype is letter “A” in the shape of Paul Bragg’s exercise. This is exercise No.1 for the spine. The Ukrainian letter “Г” has a shape of oriental dancer who bent over backwards. This is a symbol of feminine gracefulness. Her raised hands and bend of the spine are very felicitous by the laws of branding as well as by the laws of success, according to fen shui.

Tell us about your methodology, please.

    “We are constantly improving it, working at it, we have a scientific and practical basis. Secret of the methodology consists in individual selection of exercises and sequence of their performance. Our methodology is complex. The most important is the individual approach to each patient. Depending on the nature of the disease we prescribe different exercises. Most of them have names assigned to them by the patients. For example, “panther’s jump”, “laughing elephant”, “drawers”, etc.

What does the work with a new patient begin with?

    From diagnostics, which we do applying the psychological approach. The patients of our Centre are the people exhausted by pain, who visited all possible doctors, took great amount of medicine, destroyed his/her liver and finally came to us.

    It is known that similar is cured by the similar. The function of joints, musculoskeletal system of the human being is to walk, act as a support, perform motions. Therefore, the problem of musculoskeletal system diseases must be solved by means of the same motions. A famous doctor Bubnovskyi says, “If you have pain in the knee joint you should squat, in the shoulder – you should move it.” What do we usually do? If we have pain in our limb we do not move it and thus worsen our condition. You have to keep up your physical shape all the time. The theory of evading loads is incorrect, it leads to disability. There are, of course, exceptions when it is necessary to be calm but generally it is necessary to move all the time. As it is said, “Let us escape from the heart attack by running.”

    The diagnostics lasts for one hour and a half up to two hours. As a result, we fill in a special “Spine passport.”

    During the diagnostics it is very important to take into account various factors. We record everything in the diagnostic chart of the patient. We draw conclusion on the basis of the examination, diagnose, and recommend a complex of measures. It is necessary to start with correction of metabolism and proper nutrition.

    As a result of the diagnostics we form the “Instructor’s chart.” It is not simply a range of ordinary exercises, it is an individual program, which we meticulously choose for each of our patient for effective correction of his/her musculoskeletal system defects.

Who mostly comes to you?

    These are mostly people 10 up to 16 years old. It is understandable, since this is the period of intensive development of a person. Parents intuitively feel that it is possible to correct the child’s posture during this time. However, sometimes there are misunderstandings with parents. Quite often regular attendance of the gym may be a problem. Sometimes we may hear from them, “How about our English?!”, “And our ballroom dances?” Then it is necessary to remind them that their duty is not only to encourage intellectual development of the child but to make him healthy. And if they do not pay attention to this now, it may be too late soon. For instance, if a child has an idiopathic scoliosis, his “destination” is disability.

    Not all people realize how important the role of spine is for the whole body. It has not only energetic and supporting function, this part of the skeleton is engaged in all metabolic processes, in the development of viscera. Spine of a person is the stem of health!

    “There are no incurable diseases, there are lazy patients,” says Oksana. Even preschool children may have problems with their posture. Therefore, it is important to notice it when the spine is only being formed. According to Oksana Slinko’s experience, teenage girls more often have distortion of pelvis and costal humpback, while teenage boys – cyphosis. The Centre for Posture Correction uses a unique diagnostics, allowing to apply an individual approach and form the necessary complex of physical exercises for every person. “I revived crawling method, which I combine with asymmetric gymnastics,” explains Oksana. “Taking a certain position, when the spine is absolutely relieved of any pressure, a person is doing the individually prescribed exercises.” “Movement is life. You can achieve the result only through persistent work,” claims Oksana. Her scientific research of many years and personal experience constitute the basis of her authoring invention. Therefore, it is not surprising that doctors not only send their patients to “Akademia Gracia”, but also use the services of the Centre themselves. People come to Oksana Slinko from all over Ukraine and also from abroad.

    Every day children have to carry heavy backpacks and bags, to sit at 5 or 6 lessons, moreover, after school they often spend hours at the computer. So it is not odd that their weak undeveloped muscles cannot hold the spine correctly, which results in the deformation of posture and hence – of the viscera position. An advanced case of scoliosis leads to irrevocable changes, which may result not only in serious chronic illnesses but also in working inability and physical disablement.

    Several authoring methods of diagnostics and correction of posture by Oksana Slinko have been protected by the copyright patents, others are in the process of elaboration. Besides, more than a year ago Oksana presented citizens of Lviv a cycle of authoring TV programs “Health Lessons”.

    She seems to do the impossible: orthopaedically ill children can move on their own after going in for her exercises. Teenagers with a deformed body as well as deformed and asymmetrical face because of posture problems return to an attractive appearance after several years of exercising. Even those who were disabled by an advanced scoliosis return to normal life and can move freely and enjoy life, in spite of their disability. Oksana Slinko is very often invited to different cities of Ukraine. She delivers lectures in sanatoriums and medical institutions. People of different ages can practice O.Slinko’s authoring methodology – primarily for prophylaxis of deformed posture and osteochodrosis.