Alex Gerwing

I was born and raised in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast, BC. The eldest of three kids, I quickly found my way into a natural leadership role (whether my siblings liked it or not). I went through the French program for most of my elementary and high school career. I was involved in sports, a bit of field hockey, but mainly soccer, where my dad was my coach and instilled in me, a healthy sense of competition. I was also heavily involved in music (voice and piano). I have always struggled with weight management and in grade 7 my mom got me to start running with her (in hopes it would help with weight loss). I hated running at first. I found it exhausting, but as I started to see my pace pick up, and my distances increase, I was hooked. By grade 11, my mom and I started running half marathons, and I was feeling healthy and strong.

After high school, I left the Coast to attend UBC to get my Bachelor’s of Science. Living on UBC campus was quite a shock to the system; there were more students attending UBC than there were residents of the entire Sunshine Coast. Class sizes were huge and I had to get used to being away from home, and not being the top of my class. The stress of undergrad led to me exercising less and eating more, and I started putting on weight and getting out of shape. I  did, however, manage to shrink the campus and find communities within UBC. I joined the residence musicals (you may have seen me in such roles as “The Yellow Brick Road” in The Wiz or “Jack’s Mom” in Into the Woods) and became part of an Ultimate frisbee team that continued to play together beyond graduation. Half way through second year, I was getting tired of my weight and health status and decided to make a change. I drastically cut my caloric intake (I also switched to vegetarianism around this time, not so much for health, but for sustainability reasons) and started running again. In the fall of 2008, I had lost a bunch of weight and ran my fastest half marathon at 2:03. I decided at this point that half marathons were too easy and I wanted to challenge myself with a marathon; I wanted to complete 42 km before my 21st birthday (at this point, some may be thinking that this Alex girl is a bit of an overachiever and those people are probably right). On May 2nd, 2009 (5 days before my 21st birthday), I completed the BMO Marathon in Vancouver, which will most likely be the last Marathon I will ever run. Unfortunately, I came out of the race with a lot of back pain. I ended up seeing a physio who diagnosed me with a terrible condition: “flat butt syndrome.” Basically, due to my poor glute recruitment, I was hyperextending through my low back to generate force. When you do this repetitively for 42 km (not to mention the many kms of running preceding this), it tends to mess things up. The work I did with the physio helped my back pain, but I decided to take a break from running. Also, around this time I was dealing with my first long distance relationship, as my university boyfriend had graduated from his undergrad and had moved back to Alberta. In the end, the distance was too much to deal with, and we broke up. The combo of cutting out running from my life, and dealing with the break up of my first love, caused me to turn to food (again) and my health status took a downturn. 

In my 3rd year of undergrad, I stumbled upon human kinetics (AKA kinesiology, “the study of human movement”) as a degree. Having always been an active person, and a fan of biology, I loved the idea of taking classes on sports physiology and human anatomy. I took up human kinetics as a minor and it was at this time when I started to consider physiotherapy as a career. I had first thought I would be a medical doctor (just like the thousands of other BSc students at UBC) but realized that physiotherapy would combine all of my interests (helping people, healthcare, physical activity), and still allow for a work-life balance (with less overall debt). I applied to start in the physio program at UBC for September 2011. I got an interview, but did not get in. 

Fun fact: this was the year Mark and Tyler started physio school; small world, hey?

After graduation in 2011, I worked at the HR MacMillan space centre: a job I had had for years, and absolutely loved; however, I felt lost and unsure of my future. I decided to change things up and move to Calgary. I had friends from university living there and my sister had decided to attend the University of Calgary for her undergrad. I moved to Calgary in the fall of 2012 and got a job at the Science Centre doing live science demos and planetarium shows. My sister ended up dropping out and moving back home after her first semester due to mental health concerns. During my time in Calgary, I was still toying with the idea of physio school so I started volunteering at ARBI, the Association for Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured. I enjoyed my time at ARBI a ton! I had the opportunity to do hands-on work with clients, seeing them achieve goals and hearing incredible stories from their past. During my time at ARBI, I decided physio was definitely where I wanted to be, so I reapplied to UBC, and I got in; I was due to start fall of 2014. 

Unfortunately, 2014 would turn out to be an incredibly emotional year. In May of 2014, while playing the first minutes of a soccer game, I tore my achilles. Fortunately, they were able to treat it conservatively, but that still meant six weeks in a cast on crutches and a further six weeks in an air cast. As soon as I was able, I started physio on the achilles as I wanted to ensure proper rehabilitation, and obviously recognized the value of physiotherapy. As September approached and I got ready to return to UBC and Vancouver, my mom, Carol, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. This was a shock to the entire family, as she had been in great health leading up to the diagnosis. Carol was my biggest role model, she taught me strength and compassion and she was the keystone of the family. My sister was also still dealing with mental health issues that had her in and out of hospital. When I moved back to Vancouver, my sister was discharged from hospital and moved in with me. This was how I started physio school, with a half healed achilles and a half broken heart. I have an incredible family that rallied around mum and we all supported each other through the passing of the matriarch of the family. Carol passed away in December of 2014, at the end of my first semester of physio school. I dealt with guilt around continuing school while mum was sick, but I spent as much time with her as possible before her passing. I was also lucky enough to have been raised by a badass woman who taught me resilience and I knew that mum wanted nothing more than for me to continue on the road to achieving my career goals. I continued physio school, trying to juggle the stressors of school, grieving the passing of my mother, trying to be an emotional support for my sister, and still not feeling that I had fully rehabilitated my achilles (and thus unable to turn to sport as my form of stress relief). With all of this combined, I fell into a depression and became the heaviest, least healthy version of myself I had ever been. 

Physio school wasn’t all bad though, I formed some incredible friendships, and my 3rd student placement was in a little town called Duncan. I chose Duncan because a large part of my dad’s family lived there and I would have a free place to stay. My preceptors were two guys by the names of Mark and Tyler, and I was their first student. I loved my placement in Duncan. I loved the clientele, the friendly, laid back vibe of the clinic and I loved working with Mark and Tyler as mentors. When I got a job offer from the clinic manager, I took it! I never imagined myself living and working in Duncan, but I figured worst case, it was only a 2 year contract. It’s been over 4 years now living and practicing in Duncan, and I have no plans on leaving anytime soon.

In the first few years working in Duncan, I was still battling with depression. I coped with it through food and wine, which obviously did not help with my weight, or general health. I started to notice that things that didn’t used to be that hard, were getting harder and I hated how my health was getting in the way of doing things I had always loved. On January 2, 2018 (yes, sometimes New Year’s resolutions can work out) I made a commitment to work towards a healthier self. I started small: my goal was to walk my dog, Bear, a total of one hour/day and I also watched my caloric intake (which meant no more weekday wine and cheese). The regular walking slowly morphed into running again. I also started getting into hiking and realized just how much I love being out in nature, just me and Bear (the dog, not the wild animal). In the fall of 2018, I started power-lifting, coached by my friend Zoe (Tyler’s wife, small town living am I right?). In the fall of 2019, Zoe and I ran a 10 km race. This was my first running race since 2010, it was also the longest distance I had run in years. I decided if I was going to do it, I was going to do it right. I set a goal of a sub 60 minute 10 km, and I finished in 57 mins, my fastest ever 10 km race. Despite shedding the pounds, I still haven’t reached my goal weight, but what I have stumbled upon is a healthier relationship with food, and the ability to look at my health as something linear. Everyday, we can make small changes towards a healthier future self. It’s very easy to get bogged down in our health failures (skipping the gym, eating that second [or third] cookie) or what we used to be like in our youth. If we can decrease the time dwelling on the negative and continue to focus on the small, positive acts we do for our health every day (going for that walk, having water instead of a pop), it makes it easier to continue on the path to a healthier future. This is the perspective I try to instill in my clients. Change takes time, but as long as we are taking control of our health and happiness and making a difference in a positive direction, we can consider it a win. I believe this is what Titan Project is all about, a holistic approach to health, and I am so excited to be part of the team!