Laevo Sector Case
Gardening
Products in use: Laevo FLEX
“The FLEX has given me a new meaning of life, with many happy times with my friends and family, without back pain or the fear of back surgery. I am forever grateful!”
Garrick is a self-employed Landscape Gardener in Australia. Garrick is passionate about his work. To sculpt the most beautiful gardens, he performs repetitive movements with heavy tools all the time. During a typical gardening job, he walks and leans forward most of the day.
In the past years, his business grew fast and he was working more than ever before. However, two years ago, he faced severe back pain and could not get up from bed. An MRI scan showed his L5 vertebrae disc compressing the S1 nerve: a hernia. Garrick started to use painkillers, took multiple massages and yoga lessons, and tried hot and cold packs to reduce the pain, but a sharp pain in the legs and a burning sensation in the calf muscle remained. Multiple medical tests followed the symptoms worsened, and his doctors advised surgery.
Taking multiple days of rest did reduce the pain, but the moment he started working, the pain came back straight away. The continuing discomfort and pain affected not only Garrick’s work but also his mood and overall well-being.
Garrick came across the Laevo FLEX exoskeleton on the internet. He started with a rental period of a month. When trying the FLEX for the first time during his work, he immediately felt relief from the burning sensation in his calf. During the first two weeks of usage, the pain in his legs became less and less each day. By trying the different settings of the exoskeleton, he found the optimal configuration for different gardening tasks. He puts on the FLEX, works with it, takes it off when done, puts it in his car, and goes to the next job.
““Before, I could only work for four hours and had to rest afterwards because I was worried about nerve damage. With the Laevo FLEX, I am able to work eight hours a day without pain!” ”
Thanks to the FLEX, the load on his lower back is reduced, allowing his body to recover. Now, Garrick is able to perform some heavy tasks without the exoskeleton, but he still uses it for prolonged forward leaning or for lifting heavy objects. Garrick: “Thanks to the Laevo FLEX, my core feels stronger, I feel fitter, less stressed, happier, and I am able to take jobs that I would say no to without the FLEX. I love my job and I am very passionate about gardens. Thanks to the FLEX, the next twenty years of my working life are looking very promising again.”